Is it possible to repent and it not be God-centered? Yes and no. No in the sense that it is not biblical repentance. Biblical repentance is always toward God and implies a turning from sin to God. But yes in the sense that we can stop committing a particular sin or refrain from sinning, and the central motivation be ourselves, not God.
Here is what I mean. It is possible to only see the self-central consequences of sin, rather than the God-belittling, Christ-demeaning consequences of sin. For instance, if you were caught for tax evasion, what would grieve you the most, what all the people would think about you after the fact, or the truth that you could not trust the most abundant, resourceful Being in the universe to supply your needs and fulfill your joy? See what I mean? Most of us would not cheat on our taxes because of what being found out might look like in the eyes of the public, but not how the sin would belittle God.
King David, whose sins were as dark and as public as anyones, had an interesting comment in his prayer in Psalm 51:4: “Against you, you only have I sinned…” Really?! In his sin with Bathsheba he sinned against her, her husband, his own body, the nation of Israel, his own wives, the child she conceived since God killed him, and just about everyone else you can think of! Yet he says “against you and you only!” The person most sinned against was God! Who found out, what the consequences were, did not seem to affect David the way demeaning the name of God did. This is repentance that is God-centered, not self-centered.
May the weight of the glory of God in Christ so fill us, that everything in our lives is brought under its weight!
GB
