“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ”
Devotional - John Norris
The only way to be free of sin—its guilt and its power over us—is by calling it what it is. Hiding from our sin, pretending it didn’t happen, or focusing on something more positive might feel better for a while, but not forever.
In Psalm 32, David describes what happened when he tried to keep his sin a secret:
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. (Psalm 32:3–4)
Hiding from our sin is poison. It will dry up our strength and rot us from the inside. In fact, in 1 John 1:8, John is warning us that denying that we have sin might be evidence that we don’t know God at all!
So, what does John propose? Confession—that’s verse 9; not to a priest, but to God Himself. Don’t hide your sin. Face it and confess it for the evil it is. And in case we need convincing, John gives staggering assurances to those who will:
Instead of anger, they will receive forgiveness. Instead of God’s wrath they will receive God’s cleansing. Why would we not confess? Here we are being promised forgiveness for what we’ve done wrong AND God’s continued help to remove the sinful desires that remain in us!
God is faithful and just. He has justly punished our sin in Jesus, and so He will faithfully apply Jesus’s death to our sins to take away our guilt and to make us more like Him.
Don’t believe the lie that hiding will make you happier. Kill the temptation to stay away from God or to hide from your sin with these verses. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
“Did God create us unable to keep his law?
No, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of creation is fallen; we are all born in sin and guilt, corrupt in our nature and unable to keep God’s law.”
Fighter Verses
© Truth78, fighterverses.com
New City Catechism
© Crossway, newcitycatechism.com