Daily Devotions
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13
Mother tells Junior, “You can play now until supper. What ever you do, stay out of the cookie jar. Those chocolate cookies will spoil your supper.” Junior plays with one thought dominating his mind – those chocolate cookies. Nothing could ever taste better. Just one cookie can do no harm. While Mother works in another room, he sneaks into the kitchen, gets up on a stool takes off the lid, and grabs a delicious cookie. Time enough to get away. Just one more. With fingers in the cookie jar, Junior hears footsteps and then a voice, “Junior, what did I tell you – no cookies! No dessert for you tonight.”
I still love cookies and pass the cookie jar frequently. No penalty awaiting me from a parent, but I still rationalize to myself that one or two won’t add any pounds. Then I think of the proverb, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” We still live with our fingers in the cookie jar. We know what God says in His Word about cheating, stealing, lying, adultery, and gossip. We have much freedom to live and enjoy His creation. Yet our minds focus on the forbidden object or action. We decide that one time won’t hurt, and no one will know.
But inevitably we get caught, at least by God, who found Adam and Eve hiding in the garden. With fingers in the cookie jar and chocolate on our face we try to conceal our sin, but to no avail. The better course – openly confessing our sin and asking forgiveness. God sent His Son for us. He defeated those cookie jar temptations and died for our sins. He offers full forgiveness. His mercy – dessert of the best kind. Ahead by grace through faith in Jesus – the heavenly feast. Who needs fingers in the forbidden cookie jar anyway?
PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me to come clean with my misdeeds. Point me to Your forgiveness won on Calvary. Help me to desire Your will only. Amen.
(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)