CONFRONTING OUR OWN SIN – DEVOTIONAL
Howdy Friends! “Why is that?” The boy asked.
“That’s not an easy one to explain,” the old man said. “But I’ll try.” He stopped brushing the mare, draped his arms across her back. “Ya see son, just about all of us find it easier to explain our sins, and even justify ‘em, than to confront them – and ask forgiveness.”
“What’s that mean?” Asked the boy.
The old man moved to a straw bale and sat down, handed the brush to the boy. “Brush her tail, take all them tangles out.”
He sat back and waited until the boy finished. “Now have a look. You saw that tangled up mess, you didn’t explain it away, you brushed it out – made her tail a thing of beauty again. If you had just just thought about how them tangles’ll just come back again anyway, and how they weren’t so bad – why her tail would ‘a kept gettin’ more and more tangled until it was such a mess could hardly have cleaned it up.”
The old man swiped his hand across his mouth. “That’s how it is things keep gettin’ worse and worse for some folks – They got no fear of God. Or trust in Him either. Just like you, that brush and them tangles, a person is better off knowing their sins, even the little ones, and askin’ God for help. He’ll set your path, but a person’s gotta own up first. That’s how that works, every time.”
The old man thought about explaining how little sins ain’t any different than big sins, in God’s eyes, but he figured he’d let this percolate a day or three.
~ Gitty up, Dutch.
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Bible Verse – 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Bible Verse – Proverbs 28:13 – “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
Bible Verse – James 5:16 – “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
Bible Verse – 1 John 1:8 – “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
Bible Verse – Psalm 32:5 – “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah”
Bible Verse – James 4:17 – “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
Bible Verse – Luke 16:10 – ““One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”
