Description

As Christians, God considers us righteous in Christ. It doesn’t mean that we’re sinlessly perfect. In and of ourselves, we are still sinners. But by our faith in Jesus, His righteousness is now imputed (or transferred) into our account. This is the heart of the gospel. The Protestant Reformers used the Latin phrase, 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙪𝙡 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙨 𝙚𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧, which literally means “simultaneously righteous and sinner”. We are both a saint and a sinner at the same time. The good news is that whenever we sin, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). For this reason, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to regularly confess our sins to God, who will freely “𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝘀, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Mt 6:12 NLT). 𝗧𝗼 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 – not just repenting once at conversion, but daily, we’re to purify ourselves, just as He is pure (1 Jn 3:3). This is how we grow in holiness – to be holy as He is holy (1 Pet 1:16). This is not being sin-conscious or condemnation-minded. We'd never consider our daily showering as dirt-consciousness. We shower simply because it is necessary hygiene. Similarly, every time we seek God’s forgiveness in prayer, we’re taking a spiritual “shower”, and we’ll always be refreshed, renewed and recharged after that. I’ve learned to use the 𝗧𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 in my daily prayer (Ex 20:3-17; Deut 5:7-21). For sure, the Ten Commandments can’t save us. We’re saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But they are the 10 expressions of God’s personal and eternal morality. So they’re very useful for showing us if and where we’ve sinned. For the next few minutes, I want to invite you to pray them together with me. Praying this kind of prayer regularly will change our lives. I know this for a fact because it has certainly changed mine.