Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

January 31, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO FORGIVE (part 2)

I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

Now back to the “if and then” principle. In this verse, we are told that “if” we confess, “then” God will forgive and cleanse. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a very good deal to me. We do all the getting, and God does all the giving. How could any of us not take that deal. If you ask me, it seems to be the nature of what God does for us on a constant basis. We provide the problems, and yet in spite of that, God provides promises.

However, there seems to be one major issue with this particular process. As usual, despite the undeserved generosity of the promise God has offered us here, we fail to do our part. So often, our sins go unconfessed, unnoticed, and unforgiven. Christ has provided forgiveness, God has promised forgiveness, but we are just too preoccupied to confess. I guess we just get too busy, maybe too unconcerned, have become too apathetic, or allowed self-righteousness to enter our daily lives. We have time to watch tv, surf the Internet, talk on the phone, get to the gym, and shop online. We just don’t have time to get alone with God, read His Word, spend some time in prayer, and confess our sins to Him.

God is faithful and just. This means God is capable and qualified to fulfill His promise. If we will confess what we can remember, God is able to cleanse us from what we cannot remember. But we have to do our part. We must confess our sins.
This verse in the Greek carries the idea of us continuously confessing, and God continuously forgiving. This is because we are sinners, we have a rotten flesh, and we will always fight this battle.

Confessing sin means to admit and to acknowledge. It means to take responsibility for. It also involves repentance, but we will deal with at more later this year. Even more importantly, confession involves humility. It is humbling ourselves before a Holy God. It is letting God know that He is too important, and has been too good to us, than for us to let sin hurt our relationship with Him. It is loving God too much to let that happen. Like the great hymn says, “nothing between my soul and the Savior, so that His blessed face may be seen; nothing preventing the least of His favor, keep the way clear! Let nothing between”.