How do you repent from sin?

How do you repent from sin? How does one get all of their sins forgiven? These questions often fill the minds of those who have sin. Perform a search query on a popular web indexing service and you will find many interpretations of these questions.

I was surprised at the results from the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS, Mormonism) and popular writings concerning Allah. They both came to the same conclusions that one must be performers of an action in order to know for certain they have been forgiven. For the mormon, one must keep the commandments of God, and for the Islamic worshipper of Allah, one must follow the four R’s. A logical flaw is present in both of these conclusions – humans are not able to repeatedly reproduce perfect outcomes.

For example, If I were to present a list of 10 questions and to a person for 1 minute. Then if I were to request that same person to fill in the answers on a new paper with only the questions, the person might get it correct on the first try. Now, if I were to repeat this process to the same person – showing 10 new questions and answers – eventually, the person will miss a question. It may not be immediate. It may take days before the person gets a question wrong. However, that person will get a question wrong – not because the person is uneducated or lacks memorizing ability, but because he is a human.

One of my favorite hobbies is computer science. I read a lot of technical papers and designs. Still, with all the advancements that have been made, computer bugs find a way to exist. Even with the best error correction mechanisms in place, humans find a way to create flawed computer code that does not work. It is not because they lack intelligence in organizing words and characters into computer instructions, but because humans lack the ability of perfection.

All humans are flawed humans. At the risk of losing credibility, I must also admit that I have the capacity to be wrong. I am flawed. In Bible terms, this is called being a sinner. As a sinner, I have sin and this sin causes me to be imperfect. At one point in my life, I asked the right question – how do you repent from sin? – to the right person. The answer I was given was to place my trust in Jesus – to believe that Jesus is real, that He died on a cross for my sin, and that Jesus rose again on the third day. The Bible supports this fact: those who put their trust in Jesus are given forgiveness of past, present, and future sin.

It has now been over 20 years since I placed my trust in Jesus. Each day, I live in the reality of grace, with absolute knowledge that my sins have been forgiven.