1 John 1:9
1 John 1:9 says, “If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].” This verse is about repentance, but what does it mean to repent? It is not the same thing as regret, as you can see from the chart below.
While it’s true repentance empowers Christians to act upon taking responsibility for their actions, it is God who does the cleansing action to remove our sins. Philippians 2:13 tells us, “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” He is the reason we admit and confess what we do, so to expect someone who is not a believer in Christ to repent is not possible!
As long as a person remains independent of God, that individual stays proud. It is not possible to be humble or meek until the heart is broken and the spirit is made contrite. Then, a soul is capable of receiving God’s truth that Christ is the only way to become free from the bondage the flesh is enslaved to. If God doesn’t act upon that person’s heart and leaves them alone, they cannot repent. Repentance that changes a person from the inside only happens by God’s power. Without God, one may repent from bad habits or actions, but without a change of heart, wrong actions merely reappear in different forms.
To repent of sins in the way that transforms our character requires us to become someone different from who we once were. No one can turn themselves into a different person, without the Holy Spirit making it possible. Unbelievers may convince themselves they are becoming a better person, but it’s only an illusion. Character is often formed through suffering. Suffering has a way of taking the edge of off arrogance and entitlement, when the person is enlightened by God through His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is more mighty than anyone’s sin or resistance, which is all that anyone can offer to God.
God takes our fallen nature trapped in pride and sets it free. Until that happens, one’s will is not free to do anything contrary to their flesh’s will. God’s ways are not man’s ways; nor are God’s thoughts our thoughts, so how could anyone align themselves to become like Christ without becoming born again in the Spirit? They cannot do it. They can fake it though, especially since unbelievers remain trapped by their own self. Unsaved people by nature are self-serving, even when they may be helping others. For them, it’s vital to continue the deception that they’re a good person.
What happens to those who trust in themselves instead of God? They will either work at doing things to convince themselves that what they’re doing is good enough or they’ll find someone to invest their trust into. If it happens to be their doctor, favorite news reporter, or friend, then if their source of trust ends up being a mistake, then where does that leave them? They still do not have a trustworthy guide, which leaves them in a dilemma. Instead of them being able to progressively learn from life that self is one’s own worst enemy, any one or any thing becomes the enemy.
Only by God’s grace and mercy, with the hope that Christ brings, may someone be able to face their own self to examine it against what God says in His word in scripture. It is illogical to expect that anyone can escape their own lies their heart forces their mind to align with, without the hope of forgiveness and the Spirit’s power to transform the heart to receive God’s truth. Once the heart is made new, the mind will follow. Then, the mind is set free to see the sin within the soul.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man” (C.S. Lewis; Mere Christianity). Being that salvation is not something anyone can have more of than another believer, an unbroken proud soul may have no interest in submitting their life to God’s will. If such a one is drawn without being contrite in spirit, then it’s possible for them to become a nominal Christian. The attraction is to appear holier than others, because their self-righteousness provides them a false sense of security that allows them to keep their pride intact, along with their deceiving themselves into believing they are qualified to judge others.
“Too proud to accept” the gift of God is the reason why numbers of people are perishing, spiritually, today. Psalm 10:4 tells us, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”