Credit Card Forgiveness

I was in a Bible study class recently and we were discussing confession of sin. The following analogy popped into my head. I never know when something will be an encouragement to someone else so I decided to share it with you.

It's easy to pay off credit cards if you keep the balances small and pay them off at the end of every month. You avoid interest and it doesn't affect your life very much. If you allow those balances to accrue, it gets harder and harder to pay it off. You have to pay extra interest and it begins to overwhelm you and all the decisions you make.

Sin is just like the credit card balance. If you confess it daily, it doesn't overwhelm you and your relationship with God will be a lot closer. You'll be ready to be used by Him because you don't have this "thing" between you. But, if we allow the sin to build up, it's harder and harder to face our heavenly Father to ask forgiveness. My challenge to you is to confess it daily, even all the "little things"--the unkind word, the impatience with your spouse or child, etc--and enjoy life free from the burden sin puts on us.

1 John 1:8-10 (The Message)
If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we've never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.