How do I know whether I've truly repented?

Since feelings alone aren't a reliable measure, as the previous question explores, it helps to ask a more concrete question: has anything actually changed?

Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax collector who had cheated people for years, gives one of the Bible's clearest pictures of real repentance in action. After meeting Jesus, he doesn't just say sorry—he says, "I'll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much" (Luke 19:8). That's concrete, costly, and specific.

You don't need to sell half your belongings to prove repentance is real. But real repentance usually shows up somewhere practical: a habit actually broken (even imperfectly), an apology actually made, a wrong actually made right where possible, a pattern genuinely, if slowly, shifting.

If you're still moving in the same direction as before, with no real change in behavior, that's worth being honest about. If something concrete has shifted, even partially and imperfectly, that's evidence worth trusting—more than any particular feeling.