Day 3 - Week 37 - 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Robert J. Morgan expounds on some of the thoughts I shared yesterday:

One Sunday as I was preaching n my church in Nashville, I said that Christians need to keep "short accounts" with God.  We need to confess our sins quickly and completely so that no corrosion builds up on our spiritual connections with God.  I was interrupted by a young man whom I'd never seen before and have never seen since.  Jumping to his feet, he shouted, "Sir, Sir!  That's not right!"

He had the salutary effect of waking up everyone instantly.  "When we receive Christ as Savior," he insisted, "He forgives our sins, past, present and future.  We never again need to confess sins that are forgiven in His sight."

It's true that all our sins are instantly and forever forgiven---past, present, and future.  Yet Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (Matt. 6:12).  And, as I reminded my young heckler that evening, 1 John 1:9 was expressly written to Christians.  According to the next paragraph, 1 John 2:1-2, John wrote his book to retard sin in our lives ("I am writing you these things so that you may not sin"), but he added, "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father---Jesus Christ the righteous One."

It's not that we're saved and lost, lost and saved, over and over.  It's a matter of maintaining constant, conscious fellowship with our Lord.  It's obviously possible for Christians to sin.  I've never met one who didn't.  That doesn't mean we've lost our salvation; but sin does jeopardize the victory and vitality of our faith.  Confession means we acknowledge our failures and humbly ask God's help in overcoming them.

The only thing I can add to that today is that I think there is a danger when we cease confessing to become very complacent in our sinfulness and move into a state of abusing God's grace.  Sin becomes less meaningful to us..."after all, we're only human, God knows we're going to fall short."  That is not where God wants us.  God wants us keenly aware of the specifics of our shortcomings, He wants us to be grieved by them, and He wants us to grow and move forward.  Confession keeps us in that state of relationship and humility...always aware of who we are and always aware of the tremendous gift we have been given in God's forgiveness.