Marriage can be a beautiful, but tricky thing. First of all, let me say that I’m so thankful to be married to a man who is a new creation in Jesus and who is always growing and learning. The two of us have the same Spirit, so in the end, God smoothes out our rough edges.

But in the middle . . . well, we sometimes get splinters. 

Take this past Sunday morning. My husband grew up in a non-on-time household. He had a good commute in DC beltway traffic to his private Catholic boy’s school and was probably late almost every day of school growing up (and served lots of detention for it). Me–I don’t think I was ever late. And we were the pastor’s kids, so we couldn’t be late on Sunday mornings. 

I watch the clock and feel the stress of being on time. He doesn’t.

I don’t like to displease people by being late. He really doesn’t feel that pressure.

You can imagine this brings us at odds at times. So this past Sunday, it was time to leave and none of the kids were ready, so I snapped. I let my anger take the reigns of my tongue. We drove to church in silence, irritated with one another while the kids jabbered in the backseat of the car. 

As we listened to the sermon later, I felt God telling me that my anger was not an appropriate price to pay to get to church on time (I often “overpay” in anger for attempts at control over my home, my children, my marriage).

There it was. I was simply wrong.

If you follow Jesus, you know this pain point. You know you need to agree with God and ask forgiveness, but your pride has been pricked, and it stings.

But the more I walk with Jesus, the more I love repentance. I still resist it, and it’s still hard for me, but I’ve tasted the freedom of it. I’ve also seen its fruit in my life. I’ve seen real change in sin habits that have long held me.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:7-10

A habit of repentance pulls us out of the shadows and into the light, where we walk constantly covered by the blood of Jesus, living in the truth (with Him and others) about who we really are. We constantly let “His word” have its way with us. We submit to and agree to its truth, bearing the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8). That’s what “confess” mean (homologeō in the Greek)–to say the same with, agree with, not deny.

So Sunday I asked God to forgive me. And because of the cross, I was immediately assured of that forgiveness. Then I asked my husband for forgiveness (and he apologized for his lack of time awareness).

And that’s it, folks. No penance necessary. No residual guilt necessary. Forgiveness is free and complete, not because we will do better next time, but because Jesus’ payment for our sins was enough. 

A changed life is then the fruit of His work in us. That’s good news!!

Today’s printable Bible verse coloring page is from 1 John 1:9! You can download your page here.*

PRAYING the Word
Thank you that you are so faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me from my sin. Help me be quick to repent and quick to forgive. 

QUESTIONS to ask about the verse:
1. What does is mean to confess our sins?

*I’m so happy for you to enjoy my coloring pages and printables for your personal (not commercial) use! All artwork and photos are copyright Marydean Draws. If you share this, you’re awesome (!), and as a courtesy,  please link back to this post and not the PDF file. Thank you!!