"What Happens?"

What happens when a cowboy,

Wanders far away,

From all the things he knows are true,

And has nothing to say,

About all things that matter,

And the need to live on fire,

To seek the Lord above all else,

And make Him our desire.

Well, I’ll tell you, cowboy,

If that someone is you,

Don’t need to wait another day,

To come on back it’s true.

‘Cause you can’t clean it up yourself,

Or make yourself all right,

You have to come just as you are,

And let Christ shine His light.

Into every single corner,

That hides all of your sin,

Name it and confess it,

And your cleansing can begin.

But if you make excuses,

Or blame somebody else,

You’ll find that God resists you,

Till you humble yourself.

And then the grace is triggered,

To cleanse you and restore,

And if you walk it humbly,

He’ll give you even more.

What happens when a cowboy,

Who’s been so far away,

Turns and comes back home again,

He will hear Jesus say,

I’ve been waiting for you,

To come and get things right,

And you have my forgiveness,

Now let’s walk in the light.

“But if we confess our sins to HIm, He is faithful and just to forgive us…” (1 John 1:9)

To confess means simply to agree. It means that we agree to call sin what God calls it. If we call it something else, or blame someone else, or somehow make an excuse for a sin we’ve committed, we really aren’t agreeing with God about it. To confess means we are in full agreement with God’s assessment of what we have done. Full confess means full cleansing. Jesus died to cleanse us entirely but cleansing is only experienced by those who admit they need it. Humility is a big part of confession. When Jesus told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector who prayed at the same time, it was the tax collector who was forgiven. Why? Because he humble himself and said, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The Pharisee received no forgiveness because his prayers was about thanking God that he was better than others. God always resists the proud and always gives grace to the humble. Humble confession throws open the flood-gates of grace.

Lord, help us to agree with You, in Jesus’ name.

Art by MIkel Donahue, mikeldonahue.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Mikel, and God bless you.