Penitence

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

April 24, 2025

Penitence

Oh, what joy for those

    whose disobedience is forgiven,

    whose sin is put out of sight!

Yes, what joy for those

    whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,

    whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

Psalm 32:1-2

The psalmist continues in verse 3, “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.”  Yes, as I wrote yesterday, God has united us to Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and enthronement. And for all eternity. Yes, Christ in us is our hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) However, it is also true that our old nature, the Apostle Paul calls this our flesh, wars against our divine nature. Our calling is to take seriously this raging war between two natures, and to do our part to work cooperatively with God as he works to form Christ in us.

This point was emphasized to me on the second Monday of Lent when our Lenten devotion recalled the Apostle Paul writing, “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27) I believe Paul understood that if he didn’t take seriously his part in the raging war, he may well lose God’s calling on his life to preach the Gospel.

(see Revelation 2:5) But Paul did take seriously his part in this war, as revealed in Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

My Takeaway: Unconfessed sin can erode our intimacy with God and we, like the psalmist today, can feel as though our life is wasting away. But “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NRSV) And “Oh, what joy for those” who stay in the grace for today!

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.