Sorry

It is Friday morning, the 3rd June 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

If we start off with Psalm 32:5:

“I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

And then we go to 1 John 1:9, the Lord says:

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

That was the second verse I memorised when I gave my life to Christ over 40 years ago. The first one was John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…” but this was the second. And I want to tell you, my dear friend, there is immense power and freedom in just saying sorry. It simply defuses everything. You see, the devil is very aware of this and wants to stoke the fires of trouble and make things much worse than they already are. He says, “Don’t say sorry”. He says, “You have got your rights” and he says, “Stand your ground.”

Jesus says, “You surrendered your rights when you gave your life to me.” We say, “But Lord, we haven’t done anything wrong.” Jesus says in Romans 3:23:

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...”

That wonderful English preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said this: “Sorrow for sin is a perpetual rain, a sweet, soft shower which to a truly gracious man, lasts all his life long...” Isn’t that beautiful?

What stops us from confessing our sins, from saying sorry? Only one thing - It is pride, absolute pride. Now Jesus says:

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Mark 8:34

There is power in confession. Many, many years ago, as a young man I came to South Africa and I brought everything I could bring with me in the back of a truck. I did not declare everything to the Customs Office and so I thought I was very clever. But when I gave my life to the Lord, it started to eat at me, this unconfessed admission that I brought stuff into this country without paying my customs duty at the border. One day I said to Jill and the children, “I am going down to Pietermaritzburg and I am going to confess it.” I went down and the customs officer said: “Well, all those things you have told me about are duty-free anyway. You have got nothing to pay.” I was free!

Don’t let the devil hold you back from saying sorry and getting on with your life. Have a wonderful day, Jesus bless you! Goodbye.