Just Say Sorry

If we go to the First Epistle of John, 1 John Chapter 1 and verse 9, the Word of God says:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Confession means to acknowledge.

It means to admit to wrongdoing.

What stops us from saying sorry?

Only one word - pride!

Pride keeps us from saying sorry.

We need to stop justifying ourselves and quite simply, confess our sins and say sorry.

First of all to The Lord and then to those who we have offended.

You know, it brings absolute freedom.

Look at the story of the prodigal son.

He went back to his father. He said, “I have sinned against heaven and I have sinned against you.”

His father took him in his arms. He loved him, he forgave him and he restored him.

You and I need to also bear fruits worthy of repentance. Matthew Chapter 3 and verse 8.

What does that mean? It means not just to say, “sorry” - that is a word - but to change and to not continue to offend or to hurt that person.

We need to humble ourselves.

I remember so clearly like it was yesterday - I had a beautiful crop of seed maize.

I had a hundred hectares, 240 acres in one single block, and we had to pull out these flowers (these plants were now 6 or 8 feet tall) before they shed pollen otherwise we would have been condemned.

We had been working all day, myself, and I had about 80 to 100 women, walking up and down those lines, pulling out those flowers - an exhausting job.

It was so hot inside that mealie crop!

As we came out, it was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon - I will never forget it - the seed maize inspectors arrived.

They went in and they did a check and they came out and they said, “Angus, you need to go back again. There are too many flowers that have been left. They need to be pulled out today. We are coming back tomorrow and if they are not out, we are going to condemn the whole crop.”

That would have been my whole farm and livelihood finished with one stroke of the pen.

So I got all the women together and I said, “We are going back and we are going to do it again.”

And they said, “No, we are not going back. We’re tired and we are going home.”

And I started stamping my feet and shouting and being totally unreasonable, and I said, “You are going back.”

And they said, “We are not going back.”

And they started walking up the road with their lunch boxes and their coats, and then I realized, the whole of my future hung in the balance, and I humbled myself and I said, “Please, come back.”

My attitude changed. I said, “I am very sorry. I confess I had no right to shout at you. You have done your work. You have worked well but because of the weather these flowers just keep coming out. We need to get them out.”

Do you know that those women turned around. They came back! They put their lunch boxes down and they went back into the field and they cleaned out that whole field and the crop was saved.

Don’t be arrogant! Confess your sins, first to God and then to one another. It might save your relationship. It might save your work situation. In fact, it might even save your marriage.

Just say sorry!