Psalm 51:10-11 – Cleanse Me

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.”
(Psalm 51:10-11)

This is a great passage to remember when you want to tell God your heart needs cleansing. In those moments of weakness when we have fallen prey to the wiles of the evil one or simply made a bad choice, we, too, can cry out to God.

Context (Psalm 51): This psalm was written after the prophet Nathan had come to King David and confronted him about his infidelity with Bathsheba. The psalm laments and also praises God. David wants to remove the stain of sin from himself, hoping God will redeem him. David seeks forgiveness and mercy, to be purified and restored. Continue reading “Psalm 51:10-11 – Cleanse Me”

1 John 1:8-9 – Confess It!

“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.” (1 John 1:8-9)

I was baptized and confirmed Lutheran, so this memory verse is very familiar. Growing up, the pastor would say these words every week during the Confession/Forgiveness part of our liturgy or order of worship. My mind was blown when years later I realized the pastor was quoting scripture.

Context: 1 John 1 is not a very long chapter, but John includes a lot of wisdom here. He shares more about Jesus’ teachings about sin not already contained in his gospel. It speaks of living in the light and how we mustn’t hide our sin but rather confess it. It is then that we are forgiven. Continue reading “1 John 1:8-9 – Confess It!”

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