Quotes about Repentance
Christians should not compromise in hating sin, says Lewis. Rather we should hate the sins in others in the same way we hate them in ourselves: being sorry the person has done such things and hoping that somehow, sometime, somewhere, that person will be cured.
— Philip Yancey
if I care to listen, I hear a loud whisper from the gospel that I did not get what I deserved. I deserved punishment and got forgiveness. I deserved wrath and got love. I deserved debtor's prison and got instead a clean credit history. I deserved stern lectures and crawl-on-your-knees repentance; I got a banquet—Babette's feast—spread for me.
— Philip Yancey
6The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7So the LORD said, "I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them." 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
— Philip Yancey
God's arms are always extended; we are the ones who turn away.
— Philip Yancey
Then the question becomes, "How do we treat sinners?
— Philip Yancey
Forgiveness, and only forgiveness, can begin the thaw in the guilty party.
— Philip Yancey
Despite a hundred sermons on forgiveness, we do not forgive easily, nor find ourselves easily forgiven.
— Philip Yancey
Our only option, then, is honesty that leads to repentance. As the Bible shows, God's grace can cover any sin, including murder, infidelity, or betrayal. Yet by definition grace must be received, and hypocrisy disguises our need to receive grace. When the masks fall, hypocrisy is exposed as an elaborate ruse to avoid grace.
— Philip Yancey
Repentance, not proper behavior or even holiness, is the doorway to grace. And the opposite of sin is grace, not virtue.
— Philip Yancey
a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.
— Philip Yancey
Dr. Paul Tournier expresses this pattern in the language of psychiatry: "God blots out conscious guilt, but He brings to consciousness repressed guilt.
— Philip Yancey
That stance of openness to receive is what I call the "catch" to grace. It must be received, and the Christian term for that act is repentance, the doorway to grace.
— Philip Yancey