Repentance

1 Thessalonians 1:9  For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,


An idol is anything that you put before God –anything you serve more than God. You know what is your god by contemplating what rules your free recourses: What do you do with your free money, free time, -what does your mind think about when it is in neutral? That is the god you serve. 
So, we know true repentance has happened when those free recourses are given to the true and living God. You want to give more money; you want to fill your time with God; and when your mind goes to neutral, it doesn’t fill with all those pictures, it thinks about God (meditates)! 
Of course, this is a process and a battle. We are tempted to fight this battle on the surface level of recourses: “If I just give more, fill my time with God-stuff, and never let my mind go blank, then I will change.” The truth is that we need to fight it at the very deep level of the heart. “you turned to God” This is repentance!