1 John 1:9     

NASB	NLT	VOICE
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.	9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.	9 But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done.

Confessing our sins (the actions that are against living a godly life) allows us to freely enjoy our relationship with Christ. Confessing will not cause us to receive punishment. Confessing to God will ease our consciences (remove the concern), take away our shame (normalizing that we will make mistakes), and lighten our burden of guilt (not beating ourselves up for being imperfect.)

Some Christians don’t realize that this is the true nature of God. They feel so guilty that they continue to confess the same sins over and over and are concerned that they may have missed something. We are often taught to be perfect, and any imperfection is a sign of trouble, concern, and reason for punishment. God knows we are imperfect people, made perfect through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Other Christians believe that God does forgive them when they confess, but any unconfessed sins would lead to a life of eternal separation. Christians often don’t understand that God wants and is willing to forgive us. God isn’t ready to punish us when we mess up. God has the utmost patience for us will receive our asks for forgiveness with open arms, no questions asked. God forgives and forgets.

When we come to Christ, he forgives all the sins we have committed or will ever commit. We should always be ready and willing to confess, but not because not doing this will lose us our spot in heaven. We should confess so that we can enjoy our relationship with God to the best of our ability. Confessing will allow us to the freedom to walk around with a light conscience, free to do the work that God called us to do.

True confession also involved a commitment to not sin. We wouldn’t genuinely confess our sins if we intentionally want to commit them again. The disingenuousness of this act is a slap to the face of who God is. It leads us to abuse the justice, kindness, and compassion of who God is. We should not only cease the urge to be tempted to sin. We should pray for strength to defeat the temptation. God is kind enough to always give us a way out of those temptations, no matter how intense it gets.

In admitting our sins and receiving the forgiveness from Christ to wash us clean from the sins and give us a fresh slate to work with, we are essentially doing the following:

• We are agreeing with God that we truly sinned and will intentionally turn away from it. We must take ownership of our mistakes and be willing to work towards not doing those sinful acts. The intentionally will be seen by God and will be revealed through our heart posture.
• We are ensuring that we aren’t hiding our sins from him, and ourselves. Adam and Eve were banished from the garden because of their hidden sin and their own acts to solve things on their own. God wants us to go him regardless. There might be some earthly consequences that we’ll have to face, but God will be there with us to help us through those times.
• We are recognizing that we tend to sin, and we should rely on his power to overcome it. It’s a difficult acknowledgement at times, because we want to assume that we’re perfect, but we’re not. We’re in a broken world and learn the ways of the broken people around us. We will not be perfect in doing God’s will 100% of the time.

Hebrews 9:14

NASB	NLT	VOICE
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?	14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.	14 then how much more powerful is the blood of the Anointed One, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself as a spotless sacrifice to God, purifying your conscience form the dead things of the world to the service of the living God?

Sinful deeds are more than just our wrong actions. They can also be shown in our attempts to reach God through being perfect in our works. Our culture often celebrates self-effort and personal achievement. We define success through our financial security, health and fitness, and our relationships with others. The Bibel teaches us a difference picture of success: accepting the sacrifice of Christ for our sins, abandoning our sinful ways, and allowing Christ to wash us clean and make us new.

Success is not about the tangible parts of the world that we can hold on to or obtain. Success is shown through how we treat others, how we reflect God’s compassion and love into the world, and how we can spread his Gospel message to all the different parts of the world.

Next slice of manna: Manna for the Mind #191