What do you do after you sin? How long does it take for you to repent to God?
Sometimes we might ignore that we have sinned for a while and pretend as if nothing happened. Or, we might spend time justifying to ourselves that we didn’t hurt that person too badly, or didn’t dishonour God too much.
Thankfully God is patient with us, slow to anger and abounding with compassion.
What we need to work on is being quick to repent and confess our sins.
The apostle John writes on this very point:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)
A Christian who has sinned and denies it is in a state of self-deception. We must not forget that we follow Jesus, who died for our sins. To deny sin and live with it is to deny reality, and to deny our need for Jesus. Sometimes long-standing Christians have a kind of pride when we don’t want to admit we still need God’s grace, forgiveness and help. But we never move past Christ or the cross. We started our Christian journey reliant on God, and we continue in the same way.
– Sam Pursell