We were listening to a preacher on the radio talk about how we didn’t need to ask God to forgive us for our sins all the time. The preacher said that when we do this, we are telling God that Jesus’s death on the cross really didn’t take away our sins, unless we also continually ask for forgiveness every time we sin. The preacher said we then fall into the trap of thinking that it is what we do in our own power (repeatedly asking for forgiveness) that gets us into heaven, not Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.
This preacher is making the same mistake many others make in their assumptions about God. While the preacher is correct in stating that all our sins were forgiven once and for all by the sacrifice Jesus made for us, he is missing the reason we need to ask for forgiveness. The preacher is forgetting what it means to be in a personal relationship with God.
In our human relationships we should ask for forgiveness when we disappoint, do something wrong, or don’t do something we should have done for or with another person. We do this because we want to show them love, respect, and honor. We want people to know we care about their feelings, as we hope they care about ours. We want to establish honesty and integrity in our relationships.
Naturally, this principle carries over into our relationship with Jesus. We don’t ask Jesus to forgive us over and over again so we can get to heaven; we ask Jesus to forgive us because we love, respect, and honor Him. We value the relationship we have with Jesus. Yes, we know we are forgiven, but if we are truly in a relationship with Jesus, we should want to talk with Him about what we did or didn’t do every day. We should want to share our hearts with Jesus, just as we want Jesus to share His heart with us. We need to remember that sin breaks the relationship, and we ask for forgiveness to repair that relationship with Jesus, not to guarantee our salvation.
During your prayer time, thank Jesus for the personal relationship you have with Him. Ask Jesus to forgive you for doing those things that break your relationship with Him. Pray about the things that Jesus lays on your heart with honesty and love.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
