Acknowledging our own wrongs - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9

Acknowledging our own wrongs
“Mistakes were made.” With this sentence, the manager began his statement on illegal business dealings in which his company was involved. He appeared contrite, but distanced himself from the accusation that he had personally done something wrong.

Some mistakes are really just mistakes: you forget a meeting appointment, accidentally take the wrong coat from the coat rack or address an acquaintance by the wrong name. But there are also deliberate actions that go far beyond that. God calls them sins and holds us personally responsible for them. Unfortunately, we quickly tend to talk down our wrongs or lay the blame on others.

Often, we act like Aaron, who put himself in the best possible position in view of the golden calf: “You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So, they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out” (Exodus 32:22–24). He might as well have said, “Mistakes were made”.

But God expects us to own up to our sins. If we honestly confess them to Him, He forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

Today’s reading: Ezekiel 24:15-25:17 · Psalms 127:1-5