| Daily Thought — January
18, 2008 |
|
| LIVING THE
SOLUTION WITH DAILY INSPIRATION |
If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1:9 — New American Standard)
If we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he
won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive
our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. (1 John 1:9 — The Message)
How many of us when confronted with
our sin, our wrong doings, respond by saying, “I’m
sorry, please forgive me”? We may even be truly
sorry for hurting someone or having done something that
someone perceives as wrong, but do we acknowledge that
it was wrong or are we just asking for forgiveness because
they view it as wrong?
John is very clear here, God forgives us when we confess,
acknowledge, admit and agree with Him that what we have
done is wrong. Forgiveness comes by confession and agreement
with God on how He sees things, not by just asking for
forgiveness. Read it again, “If we confess our
sins”, “if we admit our sins”. In other
words, if we say, “yes Lord what I said/did was
wrong, it violated your standard of love and selflessness”,
then God is faithful and just to forgive us. If we do
not or will not acknowledge or agree that our actions
or words are wrong and we are only sorry that someone
was hurt, forgiveness does not come. This is because
we are not sorry that our actions, our words or choices
have violated God’s ways. The key to forgiveness
is confession of our bad and selfish choices, not just
regreting that someone was hurt by them. For if we are
only sorry that someone was hurt and not that what we
did was wrong we will do it again.
You see, if we do not confess our bad choices as sin
but only ask for forgiveness because of how someone else
reacted to what we said or did there is not forgiveness
from God. What did I just say? Yes, there is not forgiveness
if we just say we are sorry; there is no forgiveness
if we do not confess it and agree with God that it was
sin.
So what are we to do? Ask God to show what you need
to do. Maybe you need to go back and acknowledge as wrong
certain things you have done in the past. Agree with
God that they were sin, not just say you are sorry that
someone was hurt. And in the future rather than just
ask for forgiveness, confess your sin and agree that
it was wrong. Then you will know that God is faithful
and righteous and will forgive you.
Live intentionally, purposely, free and with passion,
Pete Reinbold
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Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights
reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of
International Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the
offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent
of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All
rights reserved. |
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