Is there a difference between being sorry for our sins and repenting of our sins?

on Apr 14, 2026

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: Is there a difference between being sorry for our sins and repenting of our sins? What I hear is that we are to be sorry for our sin and try not to do it again. Yet there are so many who live immoral lives but say they love Jesus. Repentance seems a much different thing. – R.S.

A: The dictionary defines repent as “feeling sorry or having regret.” But the words Jesus spoke meant a great deal more. The Biblical word repent means “to change or to turn.” It is a word of power and action – signifying a person’s complete turnabout. Jesus calls us to repent, turn away from sin, and walk in the opposite direction from sin and all that it implies.

When the Prodigal Son realized that he had sinned against his father, he got up and left the pig pen of sin and returned to his father. He didn’t just feel sorry for his sin. He wasn’t passive about it. He turned his feet in the other direction and headed home. He sought out his father and humbled himself before him, and then he was forgiven.

Many professing Christians don’t follow what the Bible teaches as repentance, thinking that it is little more than shaking their heads over their sins and saying, “I’m so sorry I did that,” and then continuing to live just as they had lived before. It’s possible to be convicted of sin and even shed tears over sins, and yet not repent.

Not one verse in the Bible indicates a person can be a Christian and live any kind of life he or she wants. When Christ enters into the human heart, He expects to be Lord and Master. He commands complete surrender. He requires that we be subject to Him, and He empowers His people to seek His desires.

======== (This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)