Shallow Wells and Surface Change: When Repentance Isn’t Real
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There’s a line in Luke 15:18 that has echoed in my spirit:
“I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.’”
Charles Ryrie once said, “Acknowledging one’s personal responsibility for sin is the first step toward reconciliation with God and man.”
But what happens when someone wants reconciliation without that first step?
This is the ache of my current season.
I’ve watched someone claim repentance while skipping over humility.
I’ve heard words of regret—but not seen the long, sustained labor of heart transformation.
What’s offered instead is surface change, shaped more by discomfort than conviction.
And it reminds me of a well.
Imagine a man who waits until a severe drought hits before digging. Out of desperation, not foresight, he starts searching for water. As soon as he hits a trickle, he stops digging. He races to those he’s neglected for years and offers what little he’s found, hoping to be seen as generous.
But the water isn’t deep. And when the heat rises again, it will dry up.
Real healing—the kind that reaches the heart—requires digging deep.
It takes effort, consistency, and sacrifice. It’s not convenient. It’s not instant.
And it’s not heroism—it’s humility.
But some people don’t want to dig past the surface. They want applause without depth, restoration without repentance.
I share this because many women live in the tension of someone else’s shallow well.
They are offered trickles when what they need is an underground stream—something true, lasting, and surrendered.
This post isn’t about blame. It’s about clarity.
Surface-level sorrow might look like change. But only sustained, Spirit-led surrender will lead to true transformation.
And if you’ve been the one waiting, hoping, believing—it’s okay to stop drawing from a shallow well that keeps going dry.
God’s grace offers living water. You don’t have to keep dehydrating your soul for someone else’s delay.