1 John 1:9 (ESV)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This is one of my all time favorite verses in the Bible. Our journey as born again believers in Jesus Christ is a life long experience in our growth to be more and more like Jesus. However, we are not perfect. We sin and it’s in this verse that I find great peace and comfort in God’s grace for our lives.
Of course it begins with our confession. Not that God doesn’t already know our sin, He does. God is all-knowing. 1 John 1:9 starts with us acknowledging in our own life that we have sinned which leads to God’s faithfulness – that is – the absolute fact that God will always do what He says. Then, we see that He is just. That means God is the supreme authority when it comes to the forgiveness of sins. A debt paid by Jesus when he died on the cross for us. And in this justification, God extends His great power to cleanse us from our unrighteousness, which then (and sometimes is hard to comprehend) makes us righteous.
God’s infinite grace to the faithful believer in Jesus Christ.