In another Q&A you said, “Freedom means all the sins of our life have been covered, that we don’t ever have to worry about measuring up. If we slip, as we all do, we’re guaranteed forgiveness each time we ask.” What if the person slips up and does not ask for forgiveness or does not desire forgiveness and keeps on sinning?
Where our salvation is concerned, Jesus made one sacrifice for all time. That means all the sins of our lifetime are covered.
Colossians 2:13 says that He forgave us all our sins. That means from the first to the last.
Hebrews 10:12-14 agrees, saying that by His once for all time sacrifice He has made us perfect forever.
So even if you forget or decide you don’t want to confess, every sin of your life was paid for at the cross. And of course, to some degree, we all keep on sinning and will until our sin nature is removed, but in Romans 7:20 Paul said that God knows it’s not us, but the sin nature within us that’s responsible.
So if we’re already forgiven, why do we need to ask at all? It’s to maintain the intimate nature of our relationship with God here on Earth.
Think of it this way. Say you’re in a really close relationship with someone, a spouse or other loved one. If you do something that disappoints or offends them in some way, you hasten to say you’re sorry even though you know they’ve already forgiven you. You do this because you don’t want anything to ever happen that could possibly strain the relationship.
This is the way it is with God. We’re already forgiven in the eternal sense but we don’t want anything to ever happen that could possibly strain the relationship here on Earth, so we say we’re sorry. In both cases, doing this shows how important the relationship is to us.