Mark III
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15 ESV)
Verbs
English verbs are boring, so it is no wonder that English Grammar is unpopular. But when Mark wrote Jesus’ words here, he used what might be an unexpected form of the verbs, “repent and believe.”
While commands, they are also present tense. Meaning that we are not commanded to repent once, and then we are done. We are not commanded to believe once, and then we are done.
Instead, repenting and believing are our constant (joyful) tasks.
We keep repenting because we keep sinning.
We keep believing because we keep needing.
We keep repenting and believing because everything that happens to us, everything that we do, and everything that we are, happen to push us to Jesus… His life, His cross, and His empty tomb.
Repent and Believe.