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When
you confess your sin to God, he
does not rub it in. He wipes it
out!
But,
there’s a right way and a wrong
way to ask for forgiveness. Let
me tell you the wrong way.
First,
don’t beg. God wants to forgive
you more than you want to ask for
it. You’re not waiting on God.
He’s waiting on you.
Second,
don’t bargain. Bargaining is
saying, “God, if you will forgive
me, I will never do this again!”
If that’s your area of weakness,
you will be back in that area of
sin in a matter of hours or days.
Don’t bargain with God and
say, “I’ll never do it
again,” because you will.
Third,
don’t bribe. Bribing is saying,
“God, if you’ll just forgive
me for this, I will …”
You’ll go to church every week.
You will read your Bible every day.
You will tithe 15 … 20 percent!
But God doesn’t want or need
your bribe.
So
what do you do?
You
don’t beg, bargain, or bribe.
You just believe.
You
believe the many promises of God
that tell you if you confess your
sins, he will forgive your sins.
Period.
Another
great verse of promise is Romans
3:24: “Yet now God declares
us ‘not guilty’ of offending
him if we trust in Jesus Christ,
who in his kindness freely takes
away our sins” (TLB).
I
know what some of you are thinking:
“Rick, you don’t know
what I’ve done.” And you’re
right. I don’t know what you’ve
done. I don’t need to know
what you’ve done. But I can
tell you this: It doesn’t matter
what you’ve done.
“Yet
now God declares us ‘not guilty’
of offending
him if we trust in Jesus Christ,
who in his kindness
freely takes away our sins”.
(Romans 3:24 TLB)
Your
forgiveness is not based on how
little or how much you’ve sinned.
It doesn’t matter what you’ve
done. What matters is what Jesus
has done for you. That’s what
the cross is all about! When Jesus
said, “It is finished,”
he meant it. It’s done. The
price has been paid. You can be
forgiven today.
Talk
It Over
- Why
do you think God wants you to
confess your sin when he already
knows everything you’ve done?
- What
other promises in God’s Word
assure you of God’s love
and forgiveness?
- What
is God waiting on you to confess
today?
This
devotional ©2017 by Rick Warren.
All rights reserved.
Rick Warren is pleased to give permission
to use this material for the Pinellas
Christian Business Directory.
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