Exfoliating Repentance

When I first heard the word repentance I knew that it meant being sorry for a specific sin.
It also involved asking God to wipe it clean and a determination not to do that sin again (to the best of one's ability). And that is it! Now I realise that knowing is the easy part.
When I say easy, I mean the theory of repentance is easy. It is being ready to allow Jesus Christ's blood to wipe away the sin, and remove, as it were, the black mark of sin from the sinner's life, and to accept the new lease of life that ensues as the person moves in the direction of God and a Godly living.

Now having lived many years as a Christian, I realise that repentance is more of a difficult practice than an easy theory!

Now that I have a better understanding of Romans 7:19 ...For the good that I want, I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do not want...

When we willfully walk with our eyes wide open into the jaws of sin, we should not be surprised when the jaws begin to close on us. But if we are sober of spirit every day, we will recognise the danger and step out of snapping range of the jaws of sin.

We can also take comfort from 1 Peter 5:9...knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world...

When sin tempts us, sometimes through the very thing that we may think we stand firm on, beware, for it is there we are most likely to fall.
James 1:13-16 ...Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived...

And deceived we all are from time to time. We almost allow ourselves to be deceived and then regret it afterwards.
More often than not recalling the words of Romans 6:23 ...For the wages of sin is death...

The whole process reminds me that dead skin is not exfoliated all in one go. It is worked off a little bit at a time, thus giving the new skin a chance to live. Dead sin takes a little longer to work out of our lives, but by the working at it, a little bit at a time comes away and the new life has a chance to live for God. But it takes hard work and as with dead skin, takes constant vigilance to prevent it taking hold once more.

1 Peter 5:8 ...Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prows around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour...

Another benefit to exfoliating the skin is to tone up the skin. Just as repentance from an honest and true heart, is a release from the guilt of that sin, it also tones the heart and makes the mind clearer about what it has to do to serve God in a wholesome faithfulness.

James 1:6-9 ...But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways..

To exfoliate is to remove dead skin, to repent is to remove dead sin.
Exfoliating the soul (repentance) takes constant vigilance, constant care, and constant praying before God.

Hebr 10: 26-27 ...For if we go on sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins... Hebr 10:22-23 ...let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful...