Forgiveness
Scripture: Psalm
32:5 (NLT)
5 Finally, I
confessed all my sins to you
and
stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I
said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
And
you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
1
John 1:9 (NIV)
9 If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness.
Devotion:
In this scripture, we see that our God
is a forgiving God. One who delights in hearing our confession and then likewise
delights in forgiving our sins. These verses have been a great comfort to me. I
don’t know about you but I still sin. It seems even when I am trying my hardest
not to sin that I sin all the more. I agree with Paul as he writes in Romans
7:21-23 (NRSV)
21 So I find it to be
a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For
I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in
my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the
law of sin that dwells in my members.
It seemed to Paul that the Law of
sin that brings death was at war within him. I agree with Paul that whenever I
try to do the good, I know I should do sin always interferes. For example, I
was once at a retreat center that had a swimming pool. Now there was a sign at
this pool that said “Running on the pool deck prohibited. I found in my heart a
strange desire to run on the deck at that very moment. The sign also said, “Walking
on the water is permitted.” I laughed because I knew I could not do this thing
which I was permitted to do. But secretly desired to do the thing that the
rules prohibited. So, it seems it is with all my life.
It is always the breaking of the law.
Whether it be human rules or God’s laws we sometimes find ourselves breaking
them because of the sin that dwells within us. What can we do about this
problem? Reading on in Romans chapter 7 and 8 gives us the hope we need:
24 Wretched man that
I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be
to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the
law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
8 There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For
God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin he condemned sin
in the flesh, (Romans 7:24-8:3) (NRSV)
Prayer:
Praise be to God who has forgiven us
all our sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Praise be to you O God
that we stand innocent before you our Judge because of your great love and mercy.
Help us today to bear witness to the world that we are free from the guilt of
our selfish acts. Let us testify to a watching world that we are set free from
sin and death and that they can be set free as well. Glory to you O Lord! Amen.
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