“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”   Psalm 32:5

It’s 6:40am (that’s in the morning) as I am writing this letter. I’ve been up since about 5:30am and it has been very quiet in my house. As I am praying about many things going on in my life, I begin to hear the sound of the garbage truck going up and down the alleys. I know they are headed for my house because they come every Tuesday and then again on Friday. They come so early that I never see them. Believe me, we accumulate a lot of trash in our house and taking out the garbage is usually my job. We put it all in nice clean garbage bags, take it outside and put it in big cans and then it all disappears twice a week. Now, suppose that I was too lazy to take out the garbage. Suppose I just let it pile up in the house. We keep our main garbage can in our pantry, but if we didn’t take it out and just let it accumulate, it would only take about two or three days for the garbage to spill out into our kitchen. Pretty soon we wouldn’t be able to walk into our house. Pretty soon our house would start to stink. Pretty soon my wife would put me in a bag and I would end up in the alley and then I would disappear. 

But, isn’t that how sin is? Sin, if we let it, can accumulate in our lives and if we don’t do something about it, we will find our hearts crowded out by it, our “house” will get filled up with it and we will start to stink. It’s funny, but that’s what so many people do. They carry their garbage with them wherever they go. And it shows in their countenance. It shows on the job. It shows in their relationships. Sin makes our sweet aroma turn to a very bad odor. Luke 15:11-31 tells the parable of the wayward son. He left his father, got caught up in sin and ended up in a field of pigs. When he “came to himself” he headed home---stink and all---and confessed to his dad all he had done. Here’s the really good part---his dad ran to meet him, wrapped his arms around him---kissed his son and put the best robe he had over his dirty, smelly son. And that’s what our heavenly Father does for His children. He covers our sin! Look at what David said in Psalm 32, verse 1: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” 1 John 1:9 says, ”If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That first little word, “IF” really is a big word in this verse. Recognize that God hates sin and then confess your sins and let Jesus take the trash out of your life. After all, He took our sins upon Himself while hanging on a cross on a hill---a trash heap---called Golgotha. 

Free Indeed,   Harold Watkins