ACKNOWLEDGE OUR SINS AND CONFESS

Proclamation:

"Then I acknowledged my sin unto You and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions unto The Lord.’  And You forgave the guilt of my sin.  Therefore let the faithful pray to You ..."  Psalms 32:5-6 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by King David under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God to the people of God, possibly as a song to be sung in praise of The Lord God.  David knew that he was wrong, that he had sinned and that his sins were an affront to The Lord.  He confessed his sins unto The Lord and encouraged all of the people of God to do likewise.

Application:

Whether we know it or not, every sin that we commit is a sin against God. (Psalms 51:4)  Recognizing that, we need to do as King David did and confess our sins to the Lord.  We should pray, confess our sins and transgressions, ask for forgiveness, and also ask for His help and strength not to repeat a particular sin.  We can become more Christ-like if we can eliminate one sinful thought, deed, or spoken word from our behavior each day.  That will by no means make us sinless or perfect.  It just means that we will be more Christ-like today than we were yesterday, and even more so on tomorrow.  Being like Christ requires an active effort on our part, including prayer, confession, not yielding to temptation, and thinking before we speak or act, in addition to reading and studying The Word of God.  We should ask ourselves before we speak or act, will this give God glory and would Jesus say or do this?  If more Christians acted more Christ-like, the world would be a much better place.