Repentance Is a Real Choice We Make
Month 8: The Heart of Jesus · Why We Believe
Today's Scripture
Read together: Luke 15:17-20 & Acts 3:19
17 Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death! 18 I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. — Luke 15:17-20
19 Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, — Acts 3:19
Memory Verse
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.”— Luke 15:7 (BSB)
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Isaiah 58-61
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Isaiah 61 is the very passage Jesus would later read aloud in Nazareth and say, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled" — good news for the poor, freedom for captives. The Rescuer is coming.)The Heart of It
Our memory verse this week is all about "one sinner who repents." But what is repentance? The younger son in the next part of shows us. He had run away and wasted everything. He ended up feeding pigs and starving. Then the Bible says, "He came to himself." He thought clearly for the first time in a long time, and he made a decision. "I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned.'" That's repentance. It's a real turning. He didn't just feel bad about the pigpen. He got up and went home. Peter says the same thing in : "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Repentance is turning around. We turn away from running our own way, and we turn back toward God.
Here's why this matters for what we believe. The son had a genuine choice. His father didn't drag him home by force. He didn't program him to come back like a robot. The father had let him go. Then he waited, watching the road. When the son chose to turn, the father ran to meet him. This is the gospel's beautiful balance. God's love comes first and reaches out to everyone. But He invites a real response. He doesn't override your will. He woos it. You can resist His grace, the way the son resisted while he ran. Or you can "come to yourself," get up, and go home. Salvation is never something we earn. And it's never something forced on us. It's grace, received by a real turning of the heart.
Around the Table
The runaway boy was hungry and sad, far from home. Then he had a big idea. "I'll go back to my dad!" So he got up and walked home, and his dad was SO happy. Saying sorry and going back is called repenting.
Let's do it: Walk a few steps the "wrong way." Then turn ALL the way around and walk back. That turning around is what repentance means!
The son didn't just feel sorry. He got up and went home. Why isn't feeling bad enough by itself? What's the difference between being sorry and actually turning around?
Let's talk: God lets us make our own choice to come to Him. Why do you think He doesn't just force everyone to love Him?
"He came to himself." Repentance starts with seeing reality clearly. And notice this. The father let him go, then welcomed him back. God's grace reaches out to all, but it can be resisted, and it must be received by a real choice.
Let's go deeper: Some people teach that God simply forces certain people to be saved and not others. The prodigal son freely runs away and freely returns. How does that point to a God who invites rather than forces?
💬 Conversation Starter
What's something you once did the wrong way, and then you realized it and turned around to fix it? How did it feel to change direction?
🛡️ Defending the Faith
When someone says… "If God really loved everyone, He'd just make everyone go to heaven — or He's already decided who's in and who's out, so my choice doesn't matter."
You can answer, kindly and confidently: "The Bible says God 'is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance' (). He genuinely loves everyone, and Christ died for all (). But love that can't be refused isn't really love. It's control. So God offers His grace to all and invites a real response. The prodigal son could run away and choose to come home, and his father ran to meet him. God doesn't force anyone. And He doesn't shut anyone out who comes. The choice is real, and the door is open to you right now." (Anchor: — answer with gentleness and respect.)
For Dad · Go Deeper
This is a "Why We Believe" day, so let's name the lane plainly. We believe Christ died for all people. We believe God's grace reaches out to everyone. And we believe this grace always comes first and we could never earn it. Yet it can be genuinely resisted or genuinely received. The prodigal is Jesus' own portrait of how salvation works. The father lets his son go, which is real freedom. He waits and watches, which is grace that pursues but doesn't coerce. And he runs to embrace him the moment he turns, which is grace that does all the saving. Avoid two ditches with your kids. One ditch says, "It's all up to you. Try harder to be good enough." The other ditch says, "Your choices don't matter. God already decided everything." The gospel walks right between them. You cannot save yourself, and God will not save you against your will. Teach your children both truths. They are helpless without grace, and the door home is truly, personally open to them. That's not a contradiction. It's the heart of the Father in .
Draws on: Roger Olson, Against Calvinism; Robert Picirilli, Grace, Faith, Free Will.
Let's Pray Together
"Father, thank You that You don't force us. And thank You that You don't shut us out. You reach for us with love. You wait with open arms. Help each of us to see clearly. Help us turn from our own way and run home to You. Thank You that the door is always open. In Jesus' name, amen."
God reaches for me first. But the turning home is mine to make, and His arms are already open.