"He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins."
1 John 1:9
Corrie ten Boom told the story of a girl who broke her mother's fine china cup. She brought the pieces to her mother with tears. The mother said, "I know that you are sorry about what happened. I forgive you. Don't cry anymore." In a few minutes, she brought the same pieces of the cup back to her mother as she was crying. Her mother said, "I told you that I forgive you. Now don't cry anymore." We may be the same way with our sins. God is faithful to forgive us. We need to simply take Him at His word.
The Bible teaches us to repent and confess our sins to God. By faith, we take the promise of God that we are truly forgiven. Sometime people continue to punish themselves for their wrongdoing, but that's not the will of God. Jesus took the punishment for our sins at the cross. We bring glory to God's grace when we receive the promise of forgiveness from our heavenly Father. We realize that we cannot undo what we have done, but God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all sin.
A man committed a terrible sin 25 years ago. Although he believed God had forgiven all of his other sins, he couldn't accept forgiveness for this one sin. He confessed it to God, but he still felt guilty. He went to his pastor with the same confession. His pastor called his attention to the promise of 1 John 1:9. Yet, he left the pastor that day with the same guilt. His problem was unbelief, that God would forgive him of that sin. Later, his pastor asked him to confess such unbelief as sin. Immediately, the assurance came that God had even forgiven him of that terrible sin. God forgives the believer of all sin (1 John 1:7). Believe the good news. You are forgiven.
Prayer: Father, we have sinned. We receive the forgiveness of all our sins through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
