Erased

Bible Reading: PSALM 32:1-5

Marshall tossed and turned in his bed. He knew it was the lie he had told that kept pricking his conscience and was keeping him awake. He punched the pillow, snuggled deeper under the covers, and squeezed his eyes shut. But he could not turn off the little voice in his head. Tell your mom you’re sorry. Tell the truth…tell the truth…tell the truth.

Marshall finally gave up. He scrambled out of bed and stumbled into the living room. His mom looked up from her computer as he burst into sobs. “What’s the matter, honey?” she asked. “Did you have a bad dream?”

Marshall shook his head. “No,” he choked out. “I…I told you a lie. I said I didn’t know how that figurine you like so much broke, but I do. I was tossing a ball around and knocked it off the shelf.” Marshall sniffed loudly. “I’m sorry.”

Mom hugged him. “It hurts to know you lied to me, Marshall, and you know that means you’ll be grounded for a few days—we’ve talked about that before. But I’m glad you confessed.” She turned her computer toward him. “Let me show you something. Look at this word I just typed. What’s wrong with it?”

Marshall looked at the computer screen through his tears. “You made a mistake. You spelled forgive F-O-R-G-E-V-E.’”

“Can you fix it for me?” asked Mom.

“Sure! But you know how to fix it too, Mom,” said Marshall. He pressed a couple of keys. “There! Now it’s spelled right.”

Mom nodded. “If I ignored my mistake, it never would have been corrected. But when you took the necessary steps to correct it, it was easily fixed, right?” Marshall nodded as his mother’s words sank in. “Ignoring sin doesn’t take care of it either,” continued Mom. “When we sin, we must do exactly what you just did about lying—confess it. When we confess our sin to Jesus, He forgives us and helps us move past it.”

“I already confessed what I did to Jesus,” Marshall said. “I sure do feel better now that I’ve confessed to you too.” He yawned. “I think I can sleep now.”

BARBARA J. WESTBERG

How About You?

Are you ignoring a sin in your life? Do you want God’s forgiveness? Then confess it to Jesus. He died and rose again to save you from sin, and He will forgive you so you can put it behind you and do what’s right instead. You may need to apologize to someone else too. Why not do that right away? You’ll be glad you did.

Today’s Key Verse:
1 JOHN 1:9 IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS AND TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. (NKJV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Jesus forgives