If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. [1 John 1:8-10 (NLT)]
When the woman joined our group at the table in the school gym, she said, “I got a late start so I was speeding to get here. If a cop stopped me, I was going to tell him I was doing the Lord’s work and, since God will forgive me, he should too.” She insisted that speeding for a godly purpose was a justifiable offense and, since God offers forgiveness, so should the police. Granted, we were doing God’s work by packing meals for the needy but, as the Blues brothers learned when they saved the orphanage, a mission from God is not a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.
Short of rushing someone to the hospital in a life-or-death situation, I’m not sure there is a valid excuse for speeding. While the bags we filled with rice, beans, and seasoning could be considered life-saving, some fifty of us packed food for over three hours so her tardiness had negligible impact on our work. If the woman’s speeding had caused an accident or injury, would she still consider her “mission from God” a valid excuse?
Having pointed my finger at this woman, two were pointed at me and I plead “guilty” as charged. None of us like consequences and so, like her, we all make excuses. In fact, a 2020 poll found that the average American makes six excuses a day! If not to traffic cops, we make them to our teachers, bosses, classmates, co-workers, neighbors, parents, children, spouse, and even to ourselves! We claim we ran out of time, forgot, were too tired, or having a bad day. Instead of blaming the dog for eating our homework, we blame the heavy traffic, the computer that crashed, or the bad weather.
Worse, even though I’ve never had to excuse my driving to the police, I’ve offered a variety of excuses to God for greater offenses! I don’t think I’m alone on this. Rather than a contrite confession, we probably offer a litany of excuses justifying our various transgressions. Like the child who cries, “He started it!” we hold others accountable, claim inexperience or naivete, defend our motives, or blame extenuating circumstances. If a rose by any other name is a rose, I suspect a sin is a sin regardless of how skillfully we try to justify or defend it!
God doesn’t need to be told what we’ve done—He already knows that. He doesn’t want excuses because there is no excuse for sin. He wants us to repent of our sins and turn to Him! The Greek word translated as repent is metanoeó which is more than regretting one’s sin. Its literal meaning is to think differently afterwards. Eerdmans Bible Dictionary defines repentance as “a complete change of orientation involving a judgment upon the past and a deliberate redirection for the future.”
That change of direction can’t happen if we rationalize our sins by blaming others or validate them with excuses. Until we honestly recognize and admit our sins, we’re not likely to repent of them. We can’t turn away from what we’re unwilling to acknowledge doing! Unacknowledged is unrepented!
Although being on a “mission from God” is not an excuse for sin or law-breaking, part of the woman’s theology is correct—God will forgive her! She was, however, totally wrong about why. God doesn’t forgive us because of our good works or great excuses. It is only by God’s grace and our faith in Jesus that we are forgiven. It is when we truthfully look at our sins, contemplate how pitiful and unworthy we are, and offer our failures in their naked ugliness without excuse that we can understand how loving, compassionate, generous, and forgiving our God really is. It is only then that we truly appreciate the gift of God’s forgiveness Jesus gave us on the cross.
True repentance is no light matter. It is a thorough change of heart about sin, a change showing itself in godly sorrow and humiliation – in heartfelt confession before the throne of grace – in a complete breaking off from sinful habits, and an abiding hatred of all sin. Such repentance is the inseparable companion of saving faith in Christ. [J.C. Ryle]
In a classic Peanuts comic (drawn by Charles Schulz), the meek Linus asked his bossy big sister Lucy, “Why are you always so anxious to criticize me?” She answered, “I just think I have a knack for seeing other peoples’ faults.” When Linus queried, “What about your own faults?” Lucy replied, “I have a knack for overlooking them.” Along with her over-sized ego, Lucy has what psychologists call “fundamental attribution error.”
I lost my first father the same year I gained my second one. I only had my birth father for twenty years, but I was blessed to have my father-in-law for thirty-seven! Dad J lived his life well—with vigor, enthusiasm, joy, laughter, and a whole lot of love. Compassionate and generous, responsible and helpful, good-humored and resourceful, he was a man of faith and integrity (with a large dose of mischief on the side). The Bible might describe him as a man after God’s heart.
As we came together in worship, each of us bringing the Lord our own private sins, sorrows, doubts, and fears, the hymn’s words, “Just as I am… I come, I come,” seemed a fitting way to start the service. Because its heartfelt words are so relatable, Just as I Am is one of my favorite hymns. Curious about its origin, I learned that its words were written by a Victorian hymn writer named Charlotte Elliott. The daughter of an evangelist, she suffered a serious illness at the age of 32 that left her an invalid for the rest of her life. Angry about what she perceived as uselessness because of her disability, Elliott became severely depressed and spiritually lost. After a visiting minister counseled her to come to Jesus, she asked how she could come to Him when all she had was her anger, sadness, questions, and broken body. The clergyman’s response was simple: “Come to Him just as you are.” Although she gave her life to Christ at that time, she continued to be plagued by depression.
Devotions of the Heart 