It’s easy to see sins in other people; it’s much harder to see them in yourself. It’s easy to “plead the 5th” and hide your sins, but until you confess them and receive forgiveness, they’ll cause you much misery.

To believe that you have no sin is deception. (See 1 John 1:8.) To continually ask God to reveal any sin in you is wisdom. (See Psalm 139:24.) If you think that there is no sin in your life, what do you call those bad things that you’re trying to hide from other people?

Some Christians claim that they’re not a sinner, but you’re still a sinner if you’re:

• Self-focused,
• Misrepresenting the truth,
• Manipulating people,
• Ignoring your conscience,
• Lusting or coveting,
• Cheating,
• Watching or reading sinful entertainment.
• Blaming people for your bad behavior,
• Putting anyone or anything first before Jesus,
• Neglecting to “consider others better than yourself,”
• Taking anything that doesn’t belong to you,
• Not loving your neighbors (and your enemies)
• Surrendering to wrongful peer pressure,
• Praising or applauding wrongful behavior.
• Resisting God’s command to “humble yourself,”
• Jealous,
• Seldom showing mercy,
• Wanting bad things to happen to someone,
• Ignoring those in need,
• Refusing to forgive anyone,
• Not blessing those who curse you,
• Being hard-hearted,
• Helping trash the planet with disposable plastic,
• Following your desires instead of God’s will,
• In any way quenching the Holy Spirit,
• Claiming you’re not a sinner.

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. Help me keep repenting and realigning with You as long as I live.

Blaming other people for your sins is cowardly. It takes courage to take responsibility for your wrongful thoughts and behaviors.

To repent is to testify against yourself. It is to openly admit your wrongdoing, to stop it, and to do your best to make amends.

Repentance isn’t just confessing sins that are in your past. It’s the ongoing process of acknowledging and turning away from present moment sins.

Guilt before God doesn’t depend on the number or the quality of our sins. It only takes one sin to make us need God’s forgiveness. Anything we think, say, or do that goes against God’s will is a sin.

If someone doesn’t have a deep desire not to sin, there’s a strong likelihood that they don’t really know the Lord. A true Christ-follower can’t freely sin and not be troubled by it.

Too many people
Read the Bible
With weeds,
Religious distractions.
Instead read it
With deeds,
Of repentance.
Then its seeds
Will flourish in you.

Jesus is the Way
To experience healing
And forgiveness.
He’s the Door
Who has opened up
To whosoever
Will enter into
And live in
Humble surrender to
The presence of God.