To Return

 

The act of changing your mind and turning the direction of your life toward God, is repentance; to repent may simply mean to return but the process is a profound journey which moves you from self- and sin-centeredness to God-centeredness.

In both the Old and New Testaments there are several examples of persons who, remorsefully changed their minds in choosing to return to God and in so doing their lives made an about turn. They repented.

The King James Version of the following verses, describes God as repenting,

Exodus 32:14

And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

Jonah 3:9-10

Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?  And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Jonah 4:2

And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

In these verses, God changed His mind about people who had changed their minds and repented. Please do not see this change of God as a change in His essential character and nature, it isn’t, however, what it reveals is that God does change His intention toward a people  who habitually change their minds and their direction.

These three verses demonstrate that God changes His mind from wrath to mercy, but He also changes His mind from blessing to judgment as in the case of king Saul where God told Samuel,

“I repent that I have made Saul king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.”  – Samuel 15:11 (RSV)

Saul, appointed by God and blessed to be king, had turned back from God. Many times, we too turn away from God, but God is merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and He is willing to show us grace, but we must be willing to turn back to God, to change our minds, to turn the direction of our lives, to return to Him in repentance.

Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection heralded an era of grace and under this wonderful dispensation, we must make a conscious decision to turn from disobedience and our own way of living to the better way found only in God through Jesus. We have to return to God if we are to survive the evil that is pervading the earth even now. We cannot and must not wait to return.

Beloved, to return to God in genuine repentance, is the only response to the gift of grace He has afforded us. Jesus, in Matthew 4:17, preached the need for repentance and in Acts 2:38, Peter said, “Every one of you must repent”. Yes, every single one of us must repent.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “To Return” ©2026 March 5, 2026