Is repentance a one-time act?

Rob Ventura explains in this video that repentance is a change of mind that brings about a change of direction. It is an about-face, a 180-degree turn. One example of repentance comes from the life of the prodigal son, who confessed that he had sinned against God and his father and rejected the sinful life that he had lived. 

Repentance involves the turning to God and a rejection of sin and naturally is at the heart of the Gospel. It is not a one-time act. We are called to continually repent of sins. We repent and believe at conversion but the remainder of our lives is characterized by repentance.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 (NKJV) – “For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”

For most Christians, the general term repentance, it's a change of mind which issues in a change of direction in one's life. The Puritan is called repentance, the vomiting of the soul. It was turning away from our sins to God. So repentance is like an old soldier once said, it's an about face, it's a 180 degree turn. Scripturally speaking, you could think about the prodigal son, he says to his father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I will return. You can think about Paul to the Thessalonians, how he writes in 1 Thessalonians chapter one, how you turn to God from idols. So repentance, again, it's at the heart of the gospel, it's at the heart of the Christian life, and we should understand that repentance is not just a one-time act. We are called in Scripture as those who continue to repent, as it were, Paul says, I die daily. He's daily repenting of his sins, daily remorseful.

And then not just staying there, but also the flip side of true repentance is always faith. The same, two different sides of the same coin. So we repent and we believe at the initial point of conversion, but then the Christian life is one which is characterized by repenting of our sins and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for fresh mercy and pardon.