“Say you’re sorry!”

We’ve all seen it. A child hits a classmate, says something mean to a friend, or steals a toy from a sibling, and the offended child runs to tell an adult. Then, the parent or teacher goes over to the offending child with, “Say you’re sorry!”

But how many children who mutter a begrudging “I’m sorry” are actually sorry? How many of these children will turn around and do the exact same thing again? These children may say that they’re “sorry,” but they’re often just sorry that they got caught, not that they did a bad thing. Because they are not truly sorry, they will go right back to hitting classmates, saying mean things, and stealing toys.

Adults do this, too. We confess to God and say we’re sorry for doing things like gossiping about a co-worker, putting ourselves first, and being envious of what others have. But then we turn around and do these exact same things the very next day. Why do we do this? Why do we continue to commit the same sins we just apologized for? Because we have not really repented.