Confession of sins

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.

Knowingly or unknowingly, we sin, because of our lust or pride. When we sin, we are separated from God since God is so pure and HOLY that HE cannot be where sin is. In the Old Testament, a sacrifice had to be made to pay for one's sins. But In the New Testament, Jesus became that “ultimate sacrifice”, once and for all, which can cleanse away the sins of all the people, who claim the blood of Jesus and ask for HIS forgiveness. Whenever we sin, the HOLY Spirit will convict us by some means, that our deeds had displeased God. When we are convicted of our sin, there is no use in covering it up with reasons or by blaming other people or our situation that led us to sin.

         Adam and Eve tried to put the blame of their disobedience on others instead of accepting their guilt. We see that God did not immediately remove them from the garden of Eden after they sinned. God asks Adam, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9).  God knew everything - What they had done and where they were hiding. But this question was asked to give Adam and Eve, a second chance - to help them understand their state of guilt and to repent. God wanted Adam and Eve to know where they were with respect to God - How far they had gone from God because of their disobedience. They had sinned and that sin made them to hide from the presence of the HOLY God. God expected them to understand that they had sinned against God and to confess, but on the contrary, they picked up reasons for their disobedience. When we pick up reasons, we tend to justify ourselves and when we make ourselves just, we can never ask forgiveness. Adam and Eve didn't accept their guilt as they put the blame on others and so, could not ask forgiveness.

         How many times have we justified ourselves by blaming others for the sins we commit? By attributing our transgressions to our circumstances? A lot of times, when we sin, we try to convince others, and ourselves that we committed that sin because of some reason or because of some forced situation. But God is more displeased when we try to cover up our sins with reasons. Let us therefore confess our sins, ONLY THEN, will we be able to genuinely ask God for forgiveness. The best part is, God gives us more grace when we ask for forgiveness. Proverbs 28: 13 says "He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy". Let us confess our sins and God is more than faithful to cleanse us of our guilt and HE will give us more grace to remain in HIM whenever we face temptations in the future. God is so good that however big our sins are, however bad our past could be, however insensitive we have been to the HOLY Spirit's moving in us - if we confess and ask forgiveness, God is so happy to take us back in HIS arms and to forgive us - just as the Father received the Prodigal son who confessed his sins and repented.

         Our awesome God never keeps a record of our wrongs. When we admit our sins and ask forgiveness, God renews us and sees us as a fresh and clean being in Christ. Amen!