Repentance accentuates grace, and causes even the most spiritually- mature believers to be awakened to their indifference. John Owen, the great Puritan writer declared, “Even the choicest of saints who seek to remain free from the condemning power of sin need to make it their business, as long as they live, to mortify the indwelling power of sin.”

    Repentance ultimately nourishes the soul of the saint. The process may seem uncomfortable and sore to the spirit but its end ultimately brings joy, growth, and faith.  True repentance furthermore confirms that we are indeed a child of God.  The writer of Hebrews said, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:5-6).

     When the prodigal son came to terms with how his sin affected his father, it was then his father lavished upon him the graces of his fortune. This of course cannot be our motivation for repentance, but it is the reality of repentance. “It is the greatest and dearest blessing that ever God gave to men, that they may repent,” said Jeremy Taylor, “and therefore to deny or to delay it is to refuse health when brought by the skill of the physician – to refuse liberty offered to us by our gracious Lord.”