Truly Forgiven = Transformation

I was looking back in my journal to 1 year ago. I clipped a quote of his and here is a slice:

Conviction of sin, the marvel of forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God's grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself. ~Oswald Chambers

I'm reminded of when I was a kid. More often than not I was remorseful, even fearful, of being caught. Usually only sorry after the fact because I had been caught. That level of remorse never changed me. It made me more careful the next time not to get caught.

God grant us the gift of true repentance that leads to life change.