“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>” (I John 1:9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Regarding our sins, we are grateful for two things. We’re thankful, first, that God is willing to forgive us, and second, that we can know He has forgiven us. The first without the second would leave us always uncertain about our forgiveness, so it’s important to know that our Father has, in fact, wiped out our transgressions.<\/p>\n
Before going further, there is something we should keep in mind. In Acts 8:22, Peter said to Simon, who had tried to buy from Peter the ability to perform miracles, “Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you<\/em>.” Since Simon was a baptized believer (Acts 8:13), was there any doubt that God would forgive him? Why did Peter say “if perhaps<\/em>“? I can think of at least one reason: Simon’s forgiveness would depend on the sincerity of his request. God will not be mocked by hypocritical, impenitent prayers for forgiveness.<\/p>\n
If we’re sincere in confessing our sin, however, God has promised to pardon us: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>.” Could there be a more glorious, hopeful promise? Surely not. When we honestly admit the sinfulness of what we’ve done and ask to be forgiven, we can rejoice in the faithfulness of God’s promise. If we’ve asked, then He has forgiven us. God always does what He says!<\/p>\n
I believe there is value in verbally acknowledging this confidence. Rather than vaguely “feeling” forgiven, we can make it more specific: “Dear Father, I am thankful that you are faithful and just to forgive what I’ve done. I gladly receive Your forgiveness now.”<\/p>\n
Saying something like that to God does several things. It causes us to consider whether we truly believe God has forgiven us, it makes our gratitude for forgiveness more specific, and it sets a clear marker between the “before” and “after” – a defining moment when we reject our sin, accept God’s forgiveness, and pivot toward being a new person. And if you want to make it more clear-cut, say it out loud. It’s something we all know is true: “verbal” acknowledgments make a bigger difference in our lives than those we merely “think.”<\/p>\n
“Today, I receive that gift of forgiveness You hold out to me. Thank You for doing a healing work inside of me that I cannot do on my own” (Suzanne Eller).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Gary Henry via WordPoints.com “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). Regarding our sins, we are grateful for two things. We’re thankful, first, that God is willing to forgive us, and second, that we can know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1571],"class_list":["post-91004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-forgiveness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28155,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-peter-say-that-perhaps-god-would-forgive-simon\/","url_meta":{"origin":91004,"position":0},"title":"Why did Peter say that perhaps God would forgive Simon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I a question for you regarding a scripture. It was a passage that you showed\u00a0someone grappling with blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. \"Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps\u00a0the thought of your heart may be forgiven you\" (Acts 8:22) I am sure I am misunderstanding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31913,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/automatic-forgiveness\/","url_meta":{"origin":91004,"position":1},"title":"Automatic Forgiveness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert M Hartian Sentry Magazine, June 2002 Schoolmates hung a sign on a high school in West Paducah, Kentucky that read \"we forgive you Mike!\" Mike Carmeal, 14, the day before, had killed three of his classmates. Dennis Prager, a Jew, covered this story in the Wall Street Journal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70001,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/forgiveness-without-repentance\/","url_meta":{"origin":91004,"position":2},"title":"Forgiveness Without Repentance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Johnson via Seeking Things Above The Bible emphasizes the importance of forgiving those who sin against us. In fact, failing to do so is very frightening because, in Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus taught, \"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":80660,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/all-past-present-and-future-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":91004,"position":3},"title":"All Past, Present, and Future Sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton I don't know how many times I have heard preachers when talking about getting full forgiveness of sins, say, \"That means all past, present, and future sins are forgiven at the cross.\" Let us study the scriptures on this matter. The Bible does not say or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-christian-obligated-to-forgive-the-sinner-who-will-not-repent\/","url_meta":{"origin":91004,"position":4},"title":"Is the Christian Obligated to Forgive the Sinner Who Will Not Repent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Curtis A. Cates The above question has often been asked of this scribe. Every accountable being at times sins against others; some sin publicly, even against the church. Clearly, those who repent and ask for forgiveness are to be fully forgiven. But, not everyone repents and asks for forgiveness.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51824,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-penance-for-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":91004,"position":5},"title":"What is the penance for adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I would like to know what is the penance for adultery. If forgiveness is possible, does the \"forgive and you shall be forgiven\" apply? Answer: The idea that there are acts of penance done for sins is not taught in the Bible. It is merely a Roman Catholic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}