Grace and short accounts

The prodigal left home and squandered in inheritance in foolish living. When he came to his senses, he said, “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you’” (Luke 15:18)

As the devotional writer says, there is a wide distinction between confessing sin as a culprit and confessing sin as a child. I am certain that my sins have already been forgiven, all of them. This was done at the cross when Jesus died. I never need to make a confession of sin as an enemy of God the Judge. Christ has forgiven all my sin. In a legal sense, I am fully pardoned and in Christ am no longer condemned.

However, because I am accepted into the family of God as His child, and offend Him as a child, I need to bow before my loving heavenly Father and confess my sin. This is just as a wayward child would do in relationship with their loving earthly father.

What happens if I don’t keep short accounts with God? Will I lose my salvation? No, for I did not gain it by confession but by grace through faith. Therefore, I cannot lose it by failure to confess. Salvation isn’t about what I do. It is a God thing.

Yet I must confess. If I do not keep short accounts with God, there seems a distance between us. He does not move away, but I do. I begin to doubt that He loves me. How could He when I am so sinful? I begin to be afraid that I will not be welcome, that He will not listen to me. I pull away in fear.

But like the prodigal, I eventually come to my senses. My hunger to be near my Father is too great and I cannot rest until confession restores that closeness, that full realization that no matter what I do, He never stops caring for me. I am secure because Jesus died for me and never ever stops interceding for me.

Again, my salvation is a done deal. If I had to earn it, I know from my experiences with my sin that it would never be mine. Confession and repentance are needful, but it is by grace that I am saved, and by grace that He keeps drawing me back to Himself.