If we are honest, there is not a single day that we can say “I’m good enough”. We may be born again Christians and sin no longer has reign over our souls, but we still fight with the flesh daily and have to surrender our motives, our desires, our whims and fancies over to the grace of God. Paul who called himself “ chief of sinners” expressed this spiritual battle: “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” Romans 7:22-23
God doesn’t want sin to have any dominion or hold on us. He longs for us to be free of its crippling grasp. The Bible devotes much to the topic of sin and righteousness to make us aware of its toxic effects. He doesn’t want us to cover up and hide our sin but He wants to expose and uproot it. If we ignore sin or try to hide it, it will just fester under the surface and spread like a metastatic cancer until it is destroying us from deep within. The reason it is so destructive is because it hinders our relationship with God and hinders us from being able to glorify Him.
We may be sinners but the wonderful news of the gospel is that we have forgiveness and atonement for our sin through the shed blood of Christ. Because we know that God will forgive us, we can stop trying to put forward a false image of being “ a good person” and we can ask God to shine the spotlight into the deepest, darkest recesses of our being to expose any unrecognized or unrelinquished sin. Even if we fool other people or fool ourselves, God knows our true motives and agendas. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:1-5
How uplifting it is to meet with God in prayer and confess sin so that He can cleanse our hearts, restoring sweet, unhindered fellowship with Him. What peace and rest we can experience when we let God cleanse us. If we are struggling with a particular area of sin we can ask God to give us victory. As we surrender to the process of being made more and more into the image of Christ we will be renewed, strengthened, and refreshed.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10