Responses

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1.

For those of us who call ourselves Christians, I wonder what our response is when our sin is pointed out to us?
The natural person's response will certainly be to either deny his sin, or to justify it. He will either say, "I never did that!" Or he will say, "I had to do that, because... Surely God will forgive me, owing to the circumstances."

But the true Christian MUST respond with a broken heart. If we say we have fellowship in God, but do not walk according to His truth- His commandments- we are liars, and the truth is not in us.

There are those people out there who say that because God is love, then we need not fear Him, because perfect love casts out all fear. This is a CLASSIC example of the misquoting of scripture, a twisting of it so that we can live outside of God's law. This presumes on God, when God has been very clear that He hates sin, and sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. When God says "Thou shalt not," He means it.

Yes, God is love- God loves justice, God loves truth, God loves holiness. God loves His children, those who have been clothed in righteousness through the sacrifice offered by Christ of His own blood and body. But God does not have any part or parcel with liars. When we persist in sin, and do not confess them and humble ourselves before God, but instead lie and say we have no sin, that we are "good people" we have proven that we have no part in God. His truth is not in us. We are all wicked sinners, but some of us have been saved by grace, but no one, save Christ, who ever walked on this earth was truly a good person.

One thing that God has shown us over and over again is that he loves a humble heart. God doesn't care about our position in society, or how eloquent, or how smart, or how beautiful we are- He made us according to His will. But those who humble themselves before God, and confess their sins, God is faithful and just to forgive their sins, be they prostitutes, thieves, murderers or the lot. God is faithful and just to forgive breakers of His commandments- adulterers, fornicators, and idol worshippers, covetors, etc, when they confess their sins. God will forgive all sins (except blaspheming the Holy Ghost)- lies, mistrust, fear, unrighteous anger, jealous, bitterness, etc. if people will humble themselves before him and confess and repent. God loves justice, yes, but He loves to be merciful, too.

But in the passage above we see that if we do not humble ourselves before God, and confess, but instead say we have no sin, then we have called God a liar, because the Bible says, "There is no one righteous, no, not one." And Jesus said, "Why do you call me good? No one is good, save God," and Isaiah said, "All we like sheep have gone astray." And Paul says, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" God has been very clear that mankind does not live up to His holy standards. But the only thing required for forgiveness in Him is to humble ourselves and repent, confessing our sin, and trusting the blood of Christ to cover us. No penances. No rituals. No trying to pretend our sin never happened. Just confess, repent, and trust.

The breaking of the heart is a painful thing- when it breaks we realize it was our sin and rebellion that nailed Christ to the cross. It was our lies and deceit that pierced His side. It was for us that he died and was buried. But God gives us new hearts, and we don't stop with the death of Christ- it was for us, wicked sinners, that He died, yes, but it was also for us that He rose again. It was for us that He triumphed over death. It was for us that He was resurrected, so that we could be, too. It was for us that He lived a holy life, so that we could be holy in Him. The breaking of the heart is painful, but living in humility is joy- difficult at times, but there is real, deep and abiding joy in trust in Christ.

So, what is our response? A prideful denial, or justification of our evil; or brokenhearted repentance and trusting, loving confession?
I hope we all find it is the repentance and confession.