What Can Wash Away My Sin?

When I wash dishes, I often think about the great hymn, "What Can Wash Away My Sin".  As I clean each dirty plate & cup, I'm thinking about how Jesus' blood cleansed us and made us whole again.  Some dishes are easier to wash than others.  Perhaps the food wasn't on the plate very long, so those dishes are easier & faster to wash.  Then, you have the dreaded baked on stuff that might have to soak for a long time.  You might even have to do a lot of scrubbing to make it clean again.    I like to compare the easier to wash dishes to the daily confession of sins.  When we go to God on a daily basis and ask forgiveness, we live in His righteousness.  However, if we continue to live in sin and do not ask God to forgive us, those sins become a habit and they are harder to come clean like the terrible baked on food on our pots & pans. 

Psalm 51 is the most perfect confession of sin found in the Bible.  These are David's words pleading with God to forgive him of all the sin associated with his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.  If David was a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22 refer to this), I am reminded  that we are capable of any type of sin as well.  Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?"  No one knows my heart and my intentions.  Only God is the only One that knows my heart.    God knows what I am capable of doing and what you are capable of doing.  We are all capable of sin.  John 5:17 tells us that "All unrighteousness is sin."  When I used to teach Sunday School & AWANA's, we would explain to the kids that sin was anything that displeased God.  Sin is contrary to what God's Word teaches us.  Unconfessed sin leaves us feeling miserable.  Such a person will see the negative in God's blessings while others are overjoyed!  Sin---no matter how small or how great---has an effect.  First of all, it separates us from God.  Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that He will not hear."  Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."   Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."   Sin separates us from God and the punishment from sin is death.  We know we are all going to die, but for those who have asked forgiveness for our sins and accepted that Christ died for our sins, we receive God's gift of eternal life!  Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."   And how do we become a believer?  It's very simple!  Romans 10:9-10 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. "Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."  1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
Do you know for sure that you are saved?  All you have to do is believe in your heart that Jesus was the One that died for the punishment of your sins, and then you confess your sins to God.  Open up the Bible to Psalm 51 and use David's words as your prayer.   Once you have confessed your sin by talking to God in prayer, you are now a child of God and you receive the gift of eternal life in Heaven!   Keep reading His Word and keep praying and you will  grow every day.  When you go through those difficult times, you will learn to trust God more and more and that will help you mature.   Psalm 116 "I LOVE the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live!" 

Heavenly Father, I praise You for Your Word and all that You have done in my life.  You have changed my life and I am so glad that I confessed my sins and accepted Christ as my savior!  I ask You Lord to lead someone to read this blog today  that needs to confess their sins to you and be forgiven and get a new life.  Thank You for loving me every day of my life....and You love each and every person.  You love the person(the sinner) but hate the sin.  Help me to love others in that same manner.  AMEN!