What does repentance look like?

Dennis Gunderson explains in this video that repentance is a change of mind, a complete 180-degree turn. It is a turning from the direction where we have been going, a complete change of mental thinking about sin and God. 

The source of repentance is the grace of God at work in our lives. It is a gift from God. Once God changes our hearts, a person's path will be turned and he will forsake sin and pursue after godliness.  

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 (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, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." 



Really, repentance is biblically a change of mind. A complete 180 turn is what's implied almost illustratively in the biblical word for repentance. It's a turning around from the direction we've been going and a complete change of orientation and mental thinking about sin and God. And it's probably well defined by the phrase in 1st Thessalonians 1 where Paul talks about how you turn from idols to serve a living and true God. Talks about repentance from sin to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

You could say in a way the source of repentance is a couple of things. First of all, the grace of God at work in us is the primary source of repentance. That's why there are several places where repentance is described as a gift in the Scriptures, a gift from God. We could also say that once He has made that change of heart, and that's the source on the human side of repentance, is that changed heart. That once a man's heart is turned, that his path is going to be turned, and He will begin to actually forsake sin in practice.