Repentance
People who are genuinely sorry for their sins are grateful for every opportunity to do an act of kindness for those whom they have a wronged. How much good would be done in our churches and in our nation if we lived in contrition and repentance! How many amends would be made that are pleasing to Jesus! Wounds and breaches would be healed, and in the end we would see that by the grace of God many a good thing has come from our sins and failures. If true contrition and repentance seeks and loves punishment, as Luther says, how much more will it seek to make amends! A penitent heart will seek to do all that lies within its power. Thus there is nothing that brings about so many good fruits in our life as a contrite, penitent heart.
And so repentance is the sole foundation upon which everything in the kingdom of God is to be built. Then our spiritual “house” will have a firm foundation and it will not be swept away when a storm comes. All our service in the kingdom of God that is not built upon contrition and repentance will not be of eternal duration. It will not bring true fruit. O that repentance would once more be a gift we would covet for ourselves personally and for our churches! It contains the greatest blessing and grace for us all.
—Basilea Schlink