Many Christians are lovers of Jesus, yet they sin against the light they have been given. They’ve heard thousands of righteous sermons, read the Bible daily for years, and spent countless hours in prayer. Yet they’ve allowed a besetting sin to remain in their life and cut off their communication with Jesus. When the Holy Spirit convicts of a sin that has never been dealt with, it comes with a warning: “This sin must go! I won’t wink at the way you’ve been indulging it.”
“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).
David was a man who knew how to repent. He constantly searched his heart before God and was quick to cry, “I’ve sinned, Lord. I stand in need of prayer.”
It is wise to remember that no matter how pure, holy and spotless you feel or how secure you think you are, you are not above being tempted! When you love Jesus, when he is the savior of your heart and ruler of your will, you are a marked person in hell. Satan will try to cut you down to the ground and it is a wise believer who realizes this in order to be equipped for the battle.
Many of us have struggles that we aren’t comfortable sharing with others. These secret sins seem so taboo that if we told anyone, they might stop speaking to us. Often these deep soul wounds manifest as anxiety or anger or other sins that affect our relationships with friends, family and community. So how do we get to the root of these issues? How do we find healing from these sins that constantly seem to trip us up?
Many believers discuss their sins and problems in very specific terms like anger, worry, doubt. They think these sins are at the core of their struggles, but that usually isn’t true. Our sins are more often symptoms of deeper heart issues. When we wrestle with a sin over and over without victory, it’s almost always because we aren’t getting to the root of the problem.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
“You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do … You learned Christ …and were taught in him … to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life … and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:17, 20-24).
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). In Genesis chapters 1 and 2, we read of God’s magnificent creation. Adam and Eve shared sweet communion with their Father in the Garden of Eden — but there was also a snake in the Garden. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). This cunning, deceitful creature tempted Eve, who brought her husband into the scheme, and they yielded to his voice.
He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
