Luke 3 says, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (vv.1-3 NIV).

John the Baptist’s job was to prepare the way for Jesus by preaching about repentance. Repentance is a change in the way we think that leads to a change in our actions. It’s easy to think of repentance as just feeling sorry. But repentance isn’t about feelings—it’s about thoughts and actions. Repentance is looking at the things we’ve done and recognizing that they’re wrong, and changing our behavior accordingly.

If you’ve ever used GPS for navigation, you know what happens when you make a wrong turn—You hear an endless nagging to make a U-turn so that you’ll be going in the right direction again. That’s what repentance is.

Lent is all about preparing our hearts for the celebration of Easter, and Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are God’s creation, formed from the dust of the ground, and we need to align our behavior with His will. And that requires repentance.

As you pray today, ask God to help you to have the strength to truly repent of any actions that aren’t pleasing to Him.