1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
When we consider the cost involved in our atonement, the blood of our Savior, it is no wonder we struggle with the idea of true forgiveness. We are continually analyzing things, we analyze business forecasts, we analyze sports statistics, we are continually picking stuff apart all the way down to the minute details. It is no wonder that we try to analyze our own sin. We try to place a value upon our sins, in the negative and the positive. We may look at a certain sin and think of it as a very small matter, while another sin may hold a tremendous weight. God sees sin a lot differently than we do, because any sin at all keeps us from the perfection that is required to enter Heaven, and that is all that really matters to Him.
John explains that if we are to confess our sins, He (with a capital meaning God) is faithful and just to forgive our sins. We do not see the Lord categorizing sin as we sometimes do. We try to minimize our sin with the very way we name it, after all it’s not really lying, in the true sense of the word, it really is just telling a little fib, right? Sin is sin no matter the perceived value.
As much as we try to trivialize our “small” sins, we also sometimes carry the burden of “larger” sins more than we ought to. Will there be murderers and thieves in Heaven? Probably. We are very likely to be surprised at those who have been cleansed from all unrighteousness. You see Jesus did not come to save the perfect, He came to save the lost, no matter how lost they are. If we confess our sins… not if we confess our small sins, not if we confess our category one sins, it states, if we confess our sins, plural, all of them.
Closing Thought:
Do you struggle with a sin nobody other than God knows about? Do you struggle with the magnitude of a certain sin from the past? You can and should leave that sin in the past seeking in full confession the forgiveness our Lord has already paid the price for.
Luke 23:42–43 (NKJV)
42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Comments