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“To Perceive Afterward”

Randy Dunahoo
02/14/10

To Perceive Afterward

by Randy Dunahoo

The working definition of the word “repent” is found in Second Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.” Repentance is a change of mind caused by godly or spiritual sorrow. It is the recognition of sin when we view our actions from a spiritual perspective. W.E. Vine says to repent is “to perceive afterward,” causing one to change one’s mind or purpose. To perceive afterward is something we call hindsight. God allowed his prophets to “perceive forward” or to see his will in the future, but he allows all of us to “perceive afterward” and measure our deeds by his revealed word. We make decisions and take action on a variety of subjects without having all the information needed, or without care or consideration of the possible consequences. Afterward, having more information or seeing the results of our actions, we often perceive that we were wrong or have sinned.  Who among us hasn’t wished that he could do it over?  God made provision for the forgiveness of our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus.  We have to meet certain obligations in order to access this forgiveness. Let us consider for a moment these responsibilities when we “perceive afterward” that we are guilty of sin against others or against the Father.

When we sin against others, our responsibility is to admit the truth to ourselves and then admit the truth to the person we have wronged. “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another” (Jas. 5:16).  Our confession should be specific, complete, and sincere and not one of those celebrity apologies: “I am sorry if my actions offended anyone” or “I apologize because you misunderstood me” or “I’m sorry you feel that way.” All of these imply that the hard feelings are actually the fault of the offended party for feeling them. Remember that an apology or confession of sin comes from a change of mind caused by godly sorrow.  It is not merely damage control to keep a friend or to smooth over a misunderstanding.

When we sin against others we also sin against God. “But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ” (1 Cor. 8:12). When we ask God to forgive our sins it should not be a throw-away line at the end of our prayer. It should be the result of our repentance.  We should be reflecting on our actions and decisions daily and when we perceive afterward that we have sinned against the Father, we should experience Godly sorrow. We should be troubled to the point that we must change our mind, our attitude, our understanding of reality.  We should be like the men in Acts 2. When Peter confronted them with their sins they were pricked in the heart and cried, “what shall we do?”  Godly sorrow caused a genuine repentance when they perceived afterward that they had participated in the killing of our Lord.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). Ω