Daily Devotional for Sunday March 7, 2010
The Bible Tells Us that We have All Sinned and Fallen Short of God's Glory
(1 John 1:8,9, Psalms 103:17, Psalms 84:11)
The Bible tells us that we have ALL sinned and fallen short of God's glory. In 1 John 1:8, a passage written to BELIEVERS, it says that if we say we don't sin we are a liar. I have a very special message for YOU today, and that message is this. God loves you! God cares about you! No matter what you have done, His grace and mercy are available to YOU today!!!
No matter how much we love Jesus, how close to the Lord we are, how spiritually mature we may be, the sad fact of living in these frail clay tablets is that we sin. We don't want to, and each day we do our best not to, but from time to time we all fall into sin of some kind. Paul spoke of this in Romans 7 when he talked about "doing the things he didn't want to do." The key is not the fact that we sin, the key is how we respond when we sin.
The Holy Spirit will bring us under conviction the moment we sin. Our response at that point must be sadness that we let the Lord down. We must be repentant, having a deep desire to turn from our sin. We must humbly come to the Lord and ask His forgiveness. The Bible gives us a precious promise for these moments. In 1 John 1:9 the Word tells us that if we will confess our sins, He is faithful and just to not only forgive us, but cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God wants to restore us to fellowship. What a promise for the saint who has let the Lord down.
You see my friend, we must never forget that God's grace, His unmerited favor, and God's mercy, which is from "everlasting to everlasting" and "new every morning," is available to us at all times. They are signs of God's unconditional love for us. When we sin against God, instead of withdrawing His grace and mercy from us, He extends His grace and mercy to us! That is why when we sin we must run to God, since that is where will find His endless grace and mercy.
I love you and care about you so much. I know many of you are hurting today because of sin in your life. I want you to know that despite your sin, God has not stopped loving you. Despite your sin, God has not abandoned you. As a matter of fact, He is waiting for you right now, this very moment to wrap His arms of love around you, give you His grace and mercy, and welcome you back into fellowship.
I pray today that you will take advantage of God's grace and mercy that is available to you today. We all sin from time to time, we all fall short and let God down. It is at those times that instead of running from God, we need to run to God and humble ourselves and ask Him to forgive us. He is waiting for you with His arms outstretched ready to forgive you. Run to Him now and freely receive His love and grace and mercy!!!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller