re:framing repentance, part II

I'm close to halfway done with my book on repentance. The latest chapter, "Repentance & Loving God," is essentially an old essay I wrote several months ago re:worked around the theme of repentance. In it I show how "loving God" can be equated with being devoted to God. At the end of the chapter, I expound upon how I have defined repentance in the book and how I currently perceive it. Here's my "definition" of repentance in the religious sense:

1. Repentance is the decision of the heart/mind (i.e. the will) to "turn from idols" (devotion to those things, including our own selves, which are not God) and to "turn to God" (to put our devotion upon God and, consequently, his kingdom).
2. "Devotion to God" can be called the Christian--or even, dare we say it, all humanity's--vocation. Lying within the primal fault of mankind in the Garden of Eden, and stretching out in a variety of ways throughout human history, is the antithesis to devotion to God: devotion to idols, the least of which is not our own selves. The greatest commandment--"Love God"--is fleshed-out in the New Testament as being synonymous with being devoted to God.
3. Devotion to God (or loving God) means to be loyal to God, committed to God, to have sworn allegiance to God (who was revealed supremely through Messiah Jesus). This is the heart of what God desires of people and what, at the same time, he demands of them: their loyalty, allegiance, commitment, devotion; yes, their love.
4. Repentance--the decision to turn from self-love/devotion to loving God/being devoted to him--is the opposite of what has taken place throughout a person's life. Real turning of the heart/mind/will is involved. It isn't about feeling guilty, feeling sorry, or apologizing. It's about making a rock-solid decision to turn one's back on the previous manner of living and embracing a new manner of living; it is going from living to please the self, to serve the self, to worship the self to living to please God, to serve God, to worship God as Creator rather than worshiping the creation.
5. Obedience is not the same thing as repentance, just as it is not the same thing as loving God/being devoted to him. Repentance is the decision to devote oneself to God. Devotion to God, when genuine, shows itself in obedience. Thus, it can be said, obedience lies within the realm of "the fruit of repentance." 

You may have noticed that I didn't mention faith once. The next chapter is all about faith and about how faith isn't "at odds" with repentance (as some have said), nor that faith precedes repentance; but that, rather, as the ancient Jews would say, repentance precedes faith. "Repentance is the first half of faith," it has been said; and understanding faith--what it is, what it is not--is integral to understanding how it fits perfectly, hand-in-glove, with repentance. Faith, repentance, loving God--in the next chapter I'm bringing it all together and then, in a final blow, defining repentance with all those themes coursing through it. It should be exciting.