Don’t Waste Another Day on Guilt
By Rick Warren
“If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.” 1 John 1:9 (NCV)
When you feel guilty, it’s hard to think about anything else. You might try to push the thought away, but it just keeps popping back up! It’s like taking a dozen ping-pong balls and trying to keep them all submerged in a swimming pool. One of them is always going to pop back up, and it’s going to wear you out in the process.
Trying to manage your guilt is not how God wants you to spend your time. He wants you to experience the freedom and joy that come from a clear conscience.
You need to get rid of your guilt but how do you do that?
The only way to let go of your wrongs is confession, which just means admitting your sin to God. You tell him, “God, you’re right, and I was wrong. I sinned. I messed up.” You don’t justify it or rationalize it or make excuses for it. You just admit it.
The word “confess” in Greek is the word homologeō, homo meaning “same” and logeō meaning “to speak.” To “speak the same” is to agree with God and to call sin what it is.
God has given us a wonderful promise in the Bible: “If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done” (1 John 1:9 NCV).
Notice it says all the wrongs, not just some of them. God doesn’t say he’s going to hold on to a few of them for ammunition. He promises to forgive them all. He’s ready to wipe them out!
Have you been carrying a load of worries and wounds and wrongs in your life? Deal with them now. In your weakness, confess to God all your sin. He will give you the strength to get back up and start a new, healthy pattern in your life. He’ll help you let it go and stop the pain that’s kept you from God’s best for your life.
The poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. This new day is too dear with its hopes and invitations to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”
Don’t waste another minute on the wrongs of yesterday. Today is a new day and a fresh start.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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