Lent Is Not the Stuff that Clings to Your Clothes in the Dryer

“If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to
cleanse us from every wrong.” 1 John 1:8-9

While many of us will readily admit we are “sinners”, few of us will ask God to search our hearts as King David at the end of Psalm 139. It is one thing to admit that we sin, after all – everyone does! It is far more intimidating, however, to ask God to search the nooks and crannies of our hearts for the sin that we like to forget about, or worse, the sin to which we’ve grown callous and deaf.

Bringing up these things will almost certainly be embarrassing and probably painful. At a minimum, if God reveals them to us, we must respond. Either we reject God, argue with Him about His definition of sin, or we allow His Holy Spirit to convict us and repent.

Ouch! There is that word so few of us like – repent. Oh, it’s fine when we are pointing out someone else’s sin and calling them to turn back to God. But for the average Christian it is a word that is used as little as possible – like healthy food at a buffet. Sure, we can put a couple of green beans or a little salad on our plate to help us feel better about all the calories we are carelessly consuming. But in the end, they have little positive effect on our bodies and they do little to relieve our guilt for overeating.

The first verse above indicates that refusing to acknowledge the truth about our sin is foolish. A Christ-follower that does not regularly come before the throne of God and ask to have her dirty laundry aired by a just and holy God is robbing herself of both the power of God and the joy that comes from being in His presence. Verse nine reminds us that when we confess our sins to Him, He will forgive us.

By the way, this kind of confession is not the “Okay you caught me! I’m sorry,” we get from children when they are only sorry they got caught, not because they disappointed you by breaking a rule. This kind of confession goes hand in hand with genuine repentance. That is realizing you have missed the mark of God’s perfect standard for your life, and that you don’t want to repeat that mistake ever again. It means humbly asking God’s mercy and forgiveness, and asking for His power to avoid the same mistake in the future.

This is why the season of Lent is so important. We are preparing our hearts to remember and receive with gladness the eternal life our Savior won for us by dying for our sins and conquering death and the grave as He rose from the dead on Easter morning. For a Christ-follower, Easter should be a cause of great joy and celebration.

However, when we do not acknowledge all of our sin and ask God’s forgiveness, we are robbing ourselves of the true joy and transformative power of Easter. Don’t let this happen to you! Spend time this Lent alone with God everyday. Ask Him to take away your fear of having your sin revealed so that you can confess it and experience the true joy of His forgiveness.

Knowing that we are forgiven also removes any unholy fear we have of being in God’s presence and it helps us look forward with greater expectation to living forever with God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ. What extraordinary joy will be ours!