If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.   1 John 1:9 NASB

I went through a couple of phases before I got really serious about my relationship with my Lord and Savior. The first phase was I sinned, but I rationalized my reasons for sinning. I thought that God would understand my reasons for sinning and that He would just overlook my sin. I knew that He was loving and merciful and I believed that He was faithful to forgive me of my sins. So I wasn’t so worried about my sins.

But then when I came to the realization that my sin was creating a barrier between me and God, I began to look at it in a whole new light. I began to see that my sin was the root cause for many of the problems in my life. I began to realize that I needed to do things differently. I began to see that I could not rationalize my sin. I couldn’t sin just because I knew that God would extend grace. Romans 6:1 tells us that we must not continuing sinning just because His grace abounds, but that when we accept Christ as our savior that we have been buried with Him through baptism so that we may walk in newness of life.

When we see our sin for what it is, it’s like seeing something really unappealing. The realization that our sin breaks God’s heart should be enough for us not to do it anymore, right? But sometimes we see our sin and it overwhelms us and we think that we will never be able to measure up. We think that we have done so much wrong that God could never forgive all that, but that’s where you are wrong, my friend. Think of it this way, this huge dry erase board has all your sins listed on them, or maybe just the bad ones because all of them may take up way too much space. But anyway, it has all these sins listed on them. The task of erasing all those sins just seems too great. But this is where you are wrong. You see, God has this really big eraser that can just wipe them away. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from our sins. He is faithful to forgive us of our sins.

Now, you may be saying, “Ok, what’s the catch?”  Well I’m glad you asked, because there is a catch. You see we have to trust in Him. We have to accept Christ as our savior. We have to confess our sin to Him and repent, meaning that we must be truly sorry in our heart. So sorry, that we never want to do it again. We have to ask for His forgiveness. But we also must forgive others. Yes, I said we must forgive others. The bible clearly tells us that if we fail to forgive others then God will not forgive us (Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:15, Luke 6:37, Colossians 3:13).

I have had some people do some low down things to me. I have had people betray me. I have had people come against me, but not one person has done anything that is worth more to me than my salvation. I am unwilling to give up my opportunity for God to forgive me just so I can hold a grudge. I have had to pray for God to remove bitterness from me at times because I found it too hard to do it on my own. But, He did. He removed it and made me feel much lighter. I was not weighed down by these chains of unforgiveness, anger, and bitterness. He can do the same for you.

God is willing to erase our sin, but He also gives us big erasers so that we can erase sins committed against us by others. He extends mercy and grace to us and expects us to extend mercy and grace to others.

In today’s world, I find that my own dry erase board fills up pretty quickly. I must regularly erase the board in order to keep myself free from anger and bitterness. I must extend forgiveness.

I am so grateful that when it comes to my sin, God has a big eraser. Romans 3:23 tells us that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. If you think you have no sin in your life then you are lying to yourself. Ask God to search your heart. Regularly pray Psalm 139:23-24 and ask God to see if there is any hurtful way in your and ask Him to lead you in the everlasting way.  You will be so glad you did.

Have a great day!