O almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto Thee all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended Thee and justly deserved Thy temporal and eternal punishment, But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray Thee of Thy boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being. (Lutheran confession)
Every Sunday we confess that we are poor, miserable sinners that deserve God’s temporal (in this lifetime) and eternal punishment (damnation). We also avow that we are truly (heartily) sorry for our sins and sincerely repent of them. We end our confession by begging for God’s mercy and, for the sake of Jesus’ innocent sufferings and death, that God would forgive our sins.
So, what does it mean when we say that we "sincerely repent" of our sins? We’ve already said that we are truly sorry for them, so what beyond "being sorry" is involved in repentance? Or is our confession merely redundant by stating that we are heartily sorry for our sins and also sincerely sorry for them?
The word "sorry" has lost much of its meaning in the English language. It has essentially become synonymous with "regret". It does not convey the same impact that comes with "contrition", the word used within the catechism to convey the terror that comes with the recognition that our sins merit eternal damnation.
Therefore, with sincere repentance, accompanying our "sorrow" is a recognition of the seriousness of our sins (contrition) and a genuine desire to cease doing them, to turn to God for forgiveness and to the Word of God for direction. If there is no intent to change, if the plan is to immediately continue down the same sinful path as before, then our "sincere repentance" is hollow, worthless, empty words and not true contrition, not true repentance.
Turning from our sins and towards God involves a desire to walk in the ways of our Lord and not to trod in the footsteps of the devil, the world and our sinful flesh. Repentance triggers a longing to walk by faith and not by sight; to follow the wisdom laid out in the Bible and not the evil teachings, the "human wisdom", of the secular world. The fruit of repentance should, therefore, be good works.
Repentance, like faith and forgiveness, is a gift from God. It is a fundamental part of the Christian life. It is not just a once-a-week, Sunday morning thing. Since we are inherently sinful, and even if we strive to follow God’s commands, we inevitably fail, we sin. Therefore, our guilt, our sorrow, our contrition for our sins and our desire, our intention, to instead follow God triggers the need for frequent, almost ongoing, repentance.
The devil, the world and our sinful flesh try to convince us that we’re not that bad. Sure, we sometimes do the wrong thing, but most of the time we’re "pretty good". However, this is a lie, a horrible lie, a damning lie. The truth is there is nothing inherently good in any of us. We all are poor, miserable sinners in desperate need of repentance and of the accompanying forgiveness. As we confess, we all deserve the eternal punishment that awaits those who don’t believe, those who have chosen a life without God.
Thanks be to Jesus Christ that He does not leave us in this horrible state. Without the humiliation He underwent in becoming man and living a sinless life as a man, without His innocent sufferings and excruciating death, and without the Father taking out His wrath, His righteous anger against sin that is rightfully ours, on His beloved Son on the cross, we would all be condemned to a future of eternal damnation, of eternal suffering the punishment for our sins.
The gift of faith, repentance, forgiveness is the pearl of great value. It is not only our ticket out of the eternal punishment for our sins, but it is also our ticket to eternal life with God, to eternal bliss with our fellow believers and with the heavenly host. It is of inestimable value, and it is intended to be shared, not to be hoarded, not to be hidden under a bushel.
Our God is a God of boundless love, who showed that love for us by taking on our punishment, by dying on the cross. This gift of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world, is wonderful news, something we so do not merit. We can never begin to repay Him; all we can do is thank Him, worship Him, sing His praise. And, most of all, share this wonderful news with others.