Friday, May 22, 2015

The Way to Spiritual Wholeness



“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9 (NIV)

               “If we confess our sins. . .” The apostle John lays the groundwork for what we have to do to find forgiveness of our sins. It is very simple. In five words, he spells out the process which we all have to do in order to be on a road to spiritual wholeness.

               As a child, when I was in trouble, my parents would ask me if what I told them was the truth. Looking back, I remember them telling me it would go easier if I did tell the truth. 

               “he is faithful and just. . .” Sometimes we wonder why a person can do or say certain things. John tells us that Jesus is the faithful one and the only just one in the world. As we progress along the path Jesus has laid out for us, we learn that He can do all things because of His faithfulness and because His Father is a just being.

               “and will forgive us our sins,” Jesus does this for us. He’s the only one who can. He does this out of His grace-his vast love for us.

               One time I did tell my mom how something got broken. It was an accident. What made it so bad was I had initially tried to cover it up.

               “and purify us from all unrighteousness.” When Jesus forgives us of our sins, He forgets they ever existed. I have always heard He tosses our sin into the sea of forgetfulness. He cleanses us of all sin-past and present. He does this and restores our righteousness.

               When a friend of ours pointed out it was an accident, my parents choose not to discipline me. Instead they kept the item in our home for several years to remind me of the importance of admitting my mistakes.

               God, in the same way, will take our sins from us, cleansing our hearts. But, unlike our earthly parents, He will wipe away any reminder of our transgression.

              
Dear Lord Jesus: Thank You for cleansing our hearts from sin. Thank You for removing our transgressions from Your memory. All glory belongs to You. In the Name of Jesus, we pray. AMEN.


4 comments:

  1. Hi Cecelia! I am joining you in your prayer for the gift of being forgiven. I have also heard about the 'sea of forgetfulness'. There is a Christian song that says 'as far as the east is from the west'. I think we can never really understand how much Jesus longs to forgive, how much He waits for us to confess.
    Happy Holiday Weekend!
    Ceil

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    1. Thank you, Ceil. for your warm thoughts.It has been a busy day for me.I went to a Celebration of Life service for a friend's dad. He was the head usher of our church.We had to go to the grocery store and then Hubby popped into Kmart looking for some American flags to put in our rock garden. While we were outside, one of our neighbors came over and talked to us. It has been a very wonderful day. Blessing to you and yours.

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  2. Where would we be without the assurance of our sins being forgiven? Even our "accidents" that we tried to hide. Haven't we all done that at one time or another? It is so hard for us to admit even making an innocent mistake sometimes because we want to always be "okay" in the sight of others. Thankfully, God also forgives our sin of pride. That's one I have to work on frequently. thank you for this wonderful message today. Forgiveness is one that I've been running into lately. As soon as I think I've taken care of everything, God shows me something else. All a part of growing in Christ. The closer we get, the more He reveals...but always with love. This was good.

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    1. Thank you. Pam. for your insightful thoughts. When we learn to admit our sins to Christ, we come closer to maturity in Him. Blessings to you and yours.

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