1Return, Israel, to the Lord your God.
    Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with you
    and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
    “Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
    that we may offer the fruit of our lips.b]”>[b]
3 Assyria cannot save us;
    we will not mount warhorses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’
    to what our own hands have made,
    for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

4 “I will heal their waywardness
    and love them freely,
    for my anger has turned away from them.

Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us.- Hosea 14:2

“BROKE” was the street name Grady answered to and those five letters were proudly emblazoned on his license plates. Though not intended in a spiritual sense, the moniker fit the middle-aged gambler, adulterer, and deceiver.

He was broken, bankrupt, and far from God. However, all that changed one evening when he was convicted by God’s Spirit in a hotel room. He told his wife, “I think I’m getting saved!” That evening he confessed sins he thought he’d take with him to the grave and came to Jesus for forgiveness. For the next thirty years, the man who didn’t think he’d live to see forty lived and served God as a changed believer in Jesus. His license plates changed too—from “BROKE” to “REPENT.”

Repent. That’s what Grady did and that’s what God called Israel to do in Hosea 14:1–2: “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God…. Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord. Say to him, ‘Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us.’ ” Big or small, few or many, our sins separate us from God. But the gap can be closed by turning from sin to Him and receiving the forgiveness He’s graciously provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Whether you’re a struggling believer in Jesus or one whose life looks like Grady’s did, your forgiveness is only a prayer away.

-ARTHUR JACKSON

 

What sins separate you from God? If you haven’t already, are you ready to confess your need for Him and receivethe forgiveness that He’s provided through His Son, Jesus?

Father, search my heart for anything that may contribute to my downfall and distance from you. Cleanse me, forgive me, anduse me for Your honor.