Hope Is Better Than Guilt

“He’s waiting to welcome you into His day with love and hugs and the bread of life.”

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Every morning we wake up to new mercies. A new day where there are no mistakes (yet).  We are going to follow the plan. Wake up before the kids. Read the Bible. Exercise. Welcome the children into the day with love and hugs and breakfast. And continue the day in joyful worship and devotion to God, loving our family and neighbors more than ourselves.

Except, that doesn’t typically happen. I don’t know about you, but I’m super good at making plans and super inconsistent with following them. Not to mention what my attitude is while attempting to follow the daily plan.

By the time night arrives, and the kids are finally in bed, I’m beat. I sit and reflect on all my failures from the day. I didn’t practice patience. I forgot that potty training takes time and accidents happen. I yelled. Kids cried. Way too much TV. I forgot to exercise (again).

Mom if you relate to any of this, I want so badly for you to know that there is hope. Hope is a person named Jesus. The Father made us for a perfect world, and a perfect relationship with Him. But it got broken. And now, on our own, we will never even have the perfect morning routine to be able to stand in His presence. 

But Jesus.  

Jesus came into the broken world where our attitudes and frustrations were getting the better of us and separating us from the Father. He is faithful to forgive our sins, our shortcomings, our many mistakes. He wants to cover us in His righteousness so we can once again stand in the presence of God. All we need to do is confess.  

That sounds easy, but to truly confess we must recognize first that we aren’t perfect and will never meet the mark. It’s humbling and sobering. We can’t do it on our own. But it’s necessary. To be forgiven we have to recognize our need. He’s waiting to welcome you into His day with love and hugs and the bread of life.

Mom, we can so quickly get stuck in our feelings of inadequacy and guilt. But instead of remaining there, we can take it to the cross and be made clean, purified and righteous in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior.  

Action Steps:

• Read all of 1 John 1. While verse 9 reminds us to confess our sins, the rest of the chapter is the reminder of the hope we find in Jesus.

• Pray and ask God to reveal in your heart where you need to confess and trust in Him.  

• Do this with your kids too. Confess to them when you’ve made a mistake and ask forgiveness. Use it as an opportunity to share that you need Jesus just as much as they do.

• Listen to O Come To The Altar | Official Lyric Video | Elevation Worship

Written by Barbara, a mom who never exercises but it’s always on the daily plan.