Take a listen to this week’s message if you haven’t already. It’s about something that plagues so many Christ-followers. The difference between being heartbroken over our sin versus being genuinely repentant. In the book of Jonah, we see the Ninevite King model four key components of genuine repentance:

Relinquish control
Reject entitlement
Turn around
Walk humbly

It’s hard to argue the simplicity of these four, but let’s understand this: simple does NOT mean easy. Each component presents its unique challenges and difficulties. So let me suggest a couple of practical first steps when it comes to genuine repentance.

Bring it to the light.
Got a problem with gossip? Problem with being negative? Thought life? Pornography? Judgmental? Greedy? Selfish with your time? Have you wronged somebody? Whatever it is, it needs LIGHT.

Everything exposed by the light is made visible, for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Ephesians‬ ‭5:13-14‬ ‭CSB

This means bringing it to Jesus, and in most cases it means bringing it out to someone else in order to be accountable for it. Some wisdom here. I’m not talking ‘casting your pearls before swine.’ Find someone who loves you but isn’t impressed by you. Find someone who will speak hard truth in love for the purpose of redemption, not condemnation. Which leads me to…

Find some running partners.
The worst thing you could do is to keep your issue hidden. That will only feed the cycle you are already living in. Find some community to help and to pray and to walk with. Some issues of repentance are going to be a process, and you’re going to need someone to process it with. A wise leader once said, “You want to go fast, go alone. You want to go far, go together.” A Connect Group is THE ideal place to find some running partners.

Start small.
Get inside the Bible. Read it every day. Start with a verse from YouVersion and gradually pick a plan or a chapter. But start. Today. You’ve got to learn His voice so you can know which voice to listen to. We’ve got to learn His ways so when we relinquish control, it’s to the right person.

Start today.
The bottom line is that this is a journey, not a destination. So the key is to start now. Today. Small. Persistent. We are never going to get it right 100% of the time. The good news in this is that you can’t exhaust God’s grace. Take the steps to bring it to the light, to turn it around, and you’ll find He’s right there next to you.