If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 ESV
How hard is it for us to face our failures? I was reading an article just today and it was talking about how few people are willing to take responsibility for their actions and the huge detriment this is on society. One of its suggestions was to actually stand in front of a mirror and say, “I am wrong” over and over until you become comfortable saying it. In an age of self, I never thought I read that, particularly from a self-help group!
It is true tho, unless it was instilled at a very young age (and even then…), nobody enjoys coming face to face with their short comings, their mistakes, their sin. I know, it is so easy to pass our own sin off as trival or inconsequential because, “it isn’t that bad”. The problem is, by doing so, we are negating the need for Jesus and the cross. We are inadvertently saying, “we are so good of our own accord we don’t need God and Jesus didn’t die for our sins”. Pretty sobering hey?!
The same net result is also true when we don’t believe the second half of the verse to be true. This happens when we say that God can’t possibly forgive such a terrible sinner like me. While this may sound humble, in reality, what we are actually saying is, ” Jesus your sacrifice on the cross was insufficient and my sin (and therefore me) are greater than you”.
It’s interesting, any time we do not choose to believe an instructional passage of scripture, we end up putting ourselves above God. It seems overwhelmingly easy to do. The beauty of it all though, is what Jesus asked us to do is so simple. While it may not be easy to confess our sins or even accept Jesus’ forgiveness, salvation truely is as simple as that. Praise the Lord.
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Musings by Tee 