Flaws within us

Act 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Act 3:20  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

Act 3:21  Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

First- we need to recognize that we are sinners. To recognize that we are sinners we must comprehend that we know deep down (if not any where on the surface at this time) that we fall short of a standard we instinctively wish we could achieve.  Have you any regrets? If there is no such thing as sinning, there should be no such thing as regret.  Regret comes from wishing we hadn't or had done something we did or didn't do.  That understanding of regret points out to us that there are flaws within us. If there are flaws within us then there is a certain standard we are holding ourselves to that reveals those flaws, those things that keep us from being people who are truly unselfish, who are truly loving of others.  Seriously, we all know there are problems with ourselves, and some of the most arrogant, conceited, self-absorbed people can find faults in others can't they? Faults in those who are not more like they are. Faults that they are less than what they should be.  Faults that make them seem to be liars, hypocrites, selfish, flawed.  I've never really known a person yet who hasn't found fault in others, and honestly- themselves. People KNOW they are flawed, they really do and all the self help, self absorption, self therapy they can muster will mostly just be them trying to justify their flaws so they don't have to feel the natural guilt of those flaws. People will don many different facades with the intention of burying the guilt and they'll even lie to themselves over and over until they believe their own lies just so they do not have to face the real truth of their guilt.

To repent is to recognize the sin in ourselves and despise that sin, that weakness, that flaw within ourselves and TRULY try to keep from succumbing to the temptations leading us to sin. We even need to hate that we've grown to love some of the sin in our lives. To simply just accept that sin without despising it is to not truly repent. If we need to cry out daily as we seek to repent over and over with a heart desperate to be made clean, then that is what we need to do rather than embrace the sin that has become a part of our lives. We must not call our sins good, just as we must not call the good- sin.

We need to repent and in repenting be converted.

Converted from what?  From one who chooses sin to one who chooses not to sin. Converted from one who doesn't believe in God's forgiveness, to one who believes.  Converted from selfishness, to unselfishness. 

Mat_13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

All by the grace of our LORD!