Have you ever struggled with what you should practice when yous sin, fifty-fifty subsequently you're saved?

When we first repented to God and received Jesus Christ every bit our Savior, we were forgiven of all our sins, and a peace we never knew flooded our hearts. But we know from personal experience that beingness saved doesn't hateful we're allowed to sin. Despite our best efforts, nosotros still sin. So what should we do when nosotros sin after we're saved?

Nosotros need to confess our sins to the Lord

Since our salvation is eternal, we don't need to exist saved once more to receive forgiveness for our sins. In fact, that's impossible.

Just nosotros also shouldn't call back it's okay to sin merely because nosotros're saved eternally. God is offended by and concerned nearly the sins we commit after we're saved.

The Bible gives us a articulate respond to the question of what we should practice when we sin. To experience existence forgiven and washed of our sins, we must confess them to the Lord.

Confessing our sins to God is critical for a salubrious Christian life. At present, let's expect at why we need to confess our sins, what it ways to confess, how to confess, and the results of confessing.

Why we demand to confess our sins

God wants to take a loving human relationship with us, and we desire to take the aforementioned with Him. But when we sin, a barrier arises betwixt us and God.

Our God is a God of dearest, but He's also holy and righteous. He tin can't tolerate or ignore sin. This is why our fellowship with Him is interrupted.

In our human relationships, nosotros know that when we offend someone, a barrier goes up between us and that person. For example, let's say you offend a friend by maxim something hurtful, and you lot never apologize. You both feel there's a rift betwixt you, but until you articulate the air by apologizing, you simply tin can't exist at ease in each other'southward presence.

This is fifty-fifty more than true when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. Before we sin, we accept peace in Him. We bask complimentary and open fellowship with Him. Merely when we sin, our conscience tells u.s.a. we've offended the Lord. The ease and sweetness of our relationship is lost. We've trespassed against Him, and our sin is now a barrier between us and God. We tin't bask fellowship with Him as nosotros did before.

Confessing our sins to the Lord is the only style our fellowship with Him tin can be restored.

What it means to confess our sins

To confess ways that nosotros admit and acknowledge our sin. We don't cover it upwards or human activity as if we didn't practise anything wrong.

Then how practice nosotros know when we've sinned?

The Bible tells united states in 1 John 1:five that "God is lite." When God shines on us, He exposes our sins and failures, and nosotros get conscious of them. The resulting sense of guilt in our censor is uncompromising and can't be subdued by any reasoning or excuse on our side.

Instead of trying to justify ourselves, reason our sin away, or cover information technology upwardly, we should acknowledge the sins God shines on by agreeing with His light. This is the meaning of confessing.

The writer of Psalm 32:five gives the states a clear discussion about this:

"I best-selling my sin to Yous, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Jehovah. Then Y'all forgave the iniquity of my sin."

This poetry shows us that to confess our sins to God ways not to comprehend them but to acknowledge them and admit to the Lord that we've sinned. This ways we concord with God's calorie-free and judgment of our sin and say, "Yes, Lord, that is sin."

How to confess our sins to the Lord

Equally soon as nosotros realize we've sinned and offended the Lord, we need to confess. And so how do we do this?

We confess our sins in prayer straight to God. Whether it's a pocket-sized transgression or i that'due south more serious, when the Lord makes us enlightened of it through our conscience, we must immediately admit our sin to Him and inquire for His forgiveness.

We don't need to go to a certain place, tell a special person, or await for a particular fourth dimension to confess our sins. No matter where nosotros are, as soon equally we're made conscious of our sins, we tin confess them to the Lord by praying to Him. Since He's living in our spirit, we can confess our sins anywhere and at any time.

A applied case

Let's say your workplace has a stock of notepads and pens. Since they're just the kind you like, y'all help yourself to a few for personal use at dwelling. Later on on, as yous open your heart to the Lord to spend time with Him, He shines on you and convicts your conscience that you've taken something that doesn't belong to you.

At this point, you could reason, "The office has plenty of those things; they'll never exist missed." Or you lot can keep with the feeling of conviction and guilt in your conscience and agree with the Lord that what you did was wrong.

When you lot decide to go on with the Lord, you can immediately pray to Him, "Yes, Lord, You're right; I've sinned. I confess that I took those things. I'm deplorable. Forgive me, Lord. Thank Y'all for shedding Your precious blood to take away my sin."

Find that this simple prayer doesn't include a promise to exercise better. That isn't required. What is required is acknowledging your sin to the Lord and declaring your faith in His blood shed for your forgiveness.

After nosotros confess our sins, we should also resolve our wrongdoing if necessary. In this example, you should return the items to your workplace.

The sin in this example might seem modest, even insignificant. But in principle, all sins—big or small-scale—must be confessed, since any sin interrupts our fellowship with God.

The effect of confession: forgiveness and cleansing

In 1 John 1:nine, a poesy written by the campaigner John to believers, we come across the result of confessing our sins:

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive usa our sins and cleanse united states from all unrighteousness."

If we confess, the result is that nosotros are forgiven and cleansed.

Notation 2 on this poetry in the New Testament Recovery Version explains what it means for God to be faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins:

"God is faithful in His discussion (five. 10) and righteous in the claret of Jesus His Son (v. vii). His give-and-take is the give-and-take of the truth of His gospel (Eph. 1:xiii), which tells us that He will forgive us our sins because of Christ (Acts ten:43); and the blood of Christ has fulfilled His righteous requirements that He might forgive us our sins (Matt. 26:28). If we confess our sins, He, co-ordinate to His word and based on the redemption through the blood of Jesus, forgives us because He must be faithful in His discussion and righteous in the blood of Jesus; otherwise, He would be unfaithful and unrighteous. Our confession is needed for His forgiveness. Such forgiveness of God, which is for the restoration of our fellowship with Him, is provisional; it depends on our confession."

Our forgiveness depends on our confession. By confessing our sins, we receive forgiveness—a forgiveness that's solidly based on God's faithfulness and righteousness.

Annotation 3 on the same poesy explains what it means for Him to "cleanse united states of america from all unrighteousness":

"To forgive u.s. is to release usa from the criminal offence of our sins, whereas to cleanse us is to wash usa from the stain of our unrighteousness."

We gain so much by confessing our sins: nosotros're released and washed, and our fellowship with the Lord is fully restored.

As we've seen in this post, practicing to confess our sins to the Lord is crucial for our Christian life. We encourage y'all to read chapter iii in Bones Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 1 to larn more well-nigh God'due south provision for our sins. You lot can download the volume from anywhere in the earth for free here.

To detect out more on this topic, you lot tin can likewise read the verses and the notes from the New Testament Recovery Version mentioned in this post. If you lot alive in the Usa, you can order a complimentary copy of this outstanding written report Bible here.

Subscribe to receive the latest posts