“Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7 NIV
“What does it mean to repent?” I asked the sweet ten-year-old girl before me.
She glanced thoughtfully toward the ceiling, and after a moment’s consideration answered both thoroughly and succinctly, “Coming clean.”
Wow. How right she is.
Repenting is confessing a wrongdoing and being truly remorseful for doing it. God already knows what we did, you might astutely point out, so why do we need to rehash it?
He knows it is good for us to name it. Verbalize it. Hear it aloud.
Voicing our sin can give us a different perspective – any enticement and enjoyment we get from sin will suddenly ring hollow when we talk to God.
When our repentance is driven by remorse we throw open the gates to God’s grace and invite Him to break the steel hold sin has on our lives.
When we are truly ready to bare our hearts and souls before God, admitting to Him our deepest and darkest secrets, true cleansing begins.
His love, His grace, and His mercy all wash over us as we recognize our desperate need for Him.
We acknowledge who we have the potential to be without Him in our lives and get honest with Him, and with ourselves.
It is Jesus’ sweet sacrifice that cleanses us and allows us back into reunion with God.
And no sin is too much for Him. Nothing, no thing can separate us if we truly repent.
No words can stain our lips, no deeds can permanently darken our hands. No emotion can render our lives useless. No amount of apathy can completely stall our souls.
He promises this cleansing forgiveness is available to each and every one of us, if only we ask.
No matter how faithless our lives may look when sin blots us from God’s sight, He is forever, faithfully ours.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for always being there. Thank you for always offering full forgiveness when I sincerely repent. Thank You for never giving up on me, even when I was ready to give up on myself. May my heart always be malleable and moved by you, not rigid and self-righteous. Thank you that nothing, no thing can prevent me from finding the perfect peace You so freely offer. In Jesus’ name, Amen.