Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Just the other day, I asked myself the question, what made David a man after God's own heart? Right now I'm in the Psalms, and as I read them, David commits sin after sin after sin. Yet he's known as a man after God's own heart. I think this is the key in David's life: the reason he's a man after God's own heart is because he kept running to God, even when he failed over and over and over.
Sin Grows in the Dark
In our verse today, 1 John chapter 1, verse 9 tells us, "if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us." This is a book that's all about fellowship with God—what does it look like to be in fellowship with God? One of the key pieces of our Christian faith is to bring our sin into the light. Here's what I've learned in my life: sin grows in the dark. John tells us, bring your sin into the light. If you confess your sins to Him, he says He is faithful and just to forgive us. The promise we have as Christians is that when we fail, if we run to God—not from God, but to God—forgiveness is promised. I've had seasons in my life where I'm like, God, I've already confessed this thing. Aren't You tired of me? But we have a loving Father who delights in hearing from His kids. Maybe you had an earthly dad where you kept asking for the same thing over and over again and it got annoying. That's not our heavenly Father. He is full of grace and compassion. He's ready to forgive.
The Enemy Loses His Hold
My encouragement to each and every person listening is this: don't hide your sin, because there is so much beauty in bringing our sin into the light. When we bring it into the light, the enemy no longer has a hold on us. But if we keep it in the dark, he still has a hold on us. In fact, when I look at my life—when I was addicted to so many different things—one of the main reasons I stayed addicted was because I was scared to confess. I always thought I was the only one, and I thought God was tired of me coming to Him over and over. Yet our text today reminds us that forgiveness is promised for those sins that we repent of. Not only that, it removes the guilt and removes the shame. Confession is ultimately good for the soul. My encouragement to all of us—bring your sin into the light and experience the freedom that only Jesus can give you.
