A Broken and Contrite Heart

 What do you do when you sin, and you know you have to do something to make it right with God? There are some of us who think we can overcome the effects of our sins by doing something good. That is never the case. We can't do anything to forgive our own sins. God is the Only One who can send them away. Good actions to atone for sins are not what He is looking for. David knew just what God wanted. He showed us the answer in his psalm of confession after his sin with Bathsheba. (Psalm 51:17) David knew that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. Even when people offered their animal sacrifices, God was looking at their hearts to see if these two things were present. If they were lacking, the sacrifice did no good in bringing forgiveness. Let's see what we can learn from David here.

Every person is a body, soul, and spirit. Our spirit is the part of us that communicates with God. It makes us able to hear from Him and relate to Him. When we sin, and we have a broken spirit, we realize that our sin has separated us from God, Our spirit is broken because we suffer loss, knowing that we have grieved God and the Holy Spirit. We admit our sin and seek to be restored to fellowship with God. Also, we have a broken and contrite heart. Our sin makes us sad and downcast, so that we confess to the Lord that we have done Him wrong, and we will do the right thing now. Contrition goes beyond feeling guilty. We really desire to put that sin behind us and obey God. When God sees these two elements inside of us, He is ready to forgive us. He knows we have felt the weight of our sin, and we will do all we can to move away from it to follow Him fully.

#NHBaptistdotorg

Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalm 52-55.