I am pretty good at cleaning our dishes by hand, but my wife is really good at it. But then there are times when she even goes extra far with cleaning them. Yes, we have a dishwasher, but our nest is empty and we usually clean them by hand as we go. Anyway, this morning she took a skillet that she had already hand washed, placed it on the stove with water and dish soap, and brought it to a boil. She wasn’t satisfied that it was clean enough like I would have been.
That is when I thought about how quickly I spout off a prayer to God and ask him to forgive me for a particular sin. Sometimes I throw it in like, “Oh, by the way, forgive me for…” and move on. I am sincere and I really do want him to forgive me, and I believe he forgives me and cleanses me, but did I really demonstrate my sorrow and repentance of that sin? I may easily repeat that sin and flippantly ask for forgiveness in the same manner the next day.
I believe we need to do a deep cleaning for each confessed sin. We need to truly be sorry for that sin and repent, which means to turn away, for that sin and thank God for his mercy in not giving us the punishment that we deserve. Remember… Jesus died on the cross for our sin and it is up to us to lay those sins aside as we choose obedience to him over our sins.
Let God do a deep cleaning each and every time you confess your sins to him. He will forgive you, bless you, and hold you in his loving arms.
2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) - “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”