8 - The Whole Truth

Luke 7
47. Therefore her sins - and they are many - are forgiven, for she loved me much; but one who is forgiven little, shows little love."
48. And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."    (Living Bible)

The first step in dealing with the fact that I am a sinner, is to agree with God that that's who I am.

God cannot tolerate sin in His holy presence, so we need to be cleansed so that we can have a continuing relationship with Him.

The Apostle John puts it this way in his first letter to us Christians,
chapter 1:
8. If we say that we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves, and refusing to accept the truth.
9. But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. [And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.]
10. If we claim we have not sinned, we are lying and calling God a liar, for he says we have sinned.    (Living Bible)

So we need to tell God the truth about ourselves.

The Prophet David prayed this way:
1. O loving and kind God, have mercy.
Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions.
2. Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt.
Let me be pure again.
3. For I admit my shameful deed - it haunts me day and night.
4. It is against you and you alone I sinned, and did this terrible thing.
You saw it all, and your sentence against me is just.
5. But I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6. You deserve honesty from the heart; yes, utter sincerity and truthfulness.
Oh, give me this wisdom.
7. Sprinkle me with the cleansing blood and I shall be clean again.
Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.    (Psalms 51 Living Bible)

Confessing is step two. It is also vital.

If you don't know how to begin confessing to the Lord, use the words of David as a starting point and then talk to God truthfully from your heart.

He will not reject you. Not ever!