The Phases of Repentance

In the passage we just read, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. The summary of this story helps us understand that repentance takes place in three stages:

• Awareness of our condition: He recognized his state of misery caused by his separation from his father’s house.
• Regret over the wrong decision he had made by leaving his father’s house.
• The decision to return to his father.

To repent means to become aware that we are on the wrong path, to consider the regret that this realization produces in us, and to make the decision to change our life by turning to the Lord Jesus Christ through the new birth.