January 14

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.” 1 John 1:9

If a child of God should sin, and should continue in that sin without confession, he yet remains God's child. God is still his Father, but there is now a weakness in that believer’s conscience: he is unable to be at his ease with God. Though he may try to maintain fellowship with God, he will find fellowship both painful and limited. The spontaneity has gone. Within him there is an awareness of distance. But there is one sure way of immediate restoration and that is to go to God in confession of the sin, calling upon Jesus Christ as his Advocate to conduct his case.

Never let us linger, then, in the shame of sin, as if such self-inflicted suffering could itself work in us holiness. There is no merit in a sense of guilt that does not lead on to repentance. If any man sin, the one thing he must do is to go to God and confess, trusting in Jesus Christ the Righteous One to champion his cause.