"Just one more thing"

I’ve previously mentioned in this blog that I like detective shows.  There’s something about a detective outsmarting the villain, and managing to uncover the truth that thrills me.  One of the detective shows from yesteryear is “Columbo”.  The main star, Columbo, was famous for ending the conversation, beginning to walk away, only to turn around and say, “Oh, just one more thing.”  That “one thing” was often a very important statement.

That’s how I feel as I begin this blog.  You see, last time, I wrote about several important topics, but among them, I stated that I would mention to my younger self how sin has a huge price tag.  You can go down that path, but it will inevitably cost you.  This is undeniably true, yet I feel like I need to add “one more thing” that is tremendously important – I can hardly believe that I didn’t mention it before.  There is an incredible joy, liberation, and freedom that washes over you when you choose to confess your sins to God.

The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (NKJV).  Isn’t that a beautiful truth from the Word of God?  Another translation puts it this way: “But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us.  We can trust God to do this.  He always does what is right.  He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done.”

 

Some believe that you can reach a place of sinless perfection on this Earth, the Bible disagrees.  The Bible says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  I admit that I have chosen sin in my life.  I’m not proud of it.  As I said before, it’s never really enjoyable; shame, regret, guilt, pain, and heartache are the inevitable byproducts, but yes, I have certainly chosen sin.  Yet I’ve learned that you have to come to the place where you stop wallowing in the painful reality that you made the wrong choice, and instead choose to do what the Bible says to do: confess those sins to God.

I love Psalm 32.  This is a Psalm where David basks in how wonderful it is to be forgiven by God.  Psalm 32 begins this way: “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!  Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!  When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.  Day and night Your hand of discipline was heavy upon me.  My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.  Finally, I confessed my sins and stopped trying to hide my guilt.  I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”   And You forgave me!  All my guilt is gone” (verses 1-5; NLT).  Every Christian can echo these words.  I know I certainly can.

Kevin