Why Keep Confessing?

Q

I love your site so much and know where to come when I have questions.

When Jesus died on the cross and paid our debt past-present and future why do we have to continually ask for forgiveness-repent our daily sins if they are already covered? I know about keeping in union with Jesus but asking Him over and over for forgivness wouldn’t that be like us not having faith we are already forgiven for them? Would it be showing that we don’t believe that the future sins have been foriven?

Do you think the Lord ever gets tired of us repeating the same thing over and over in our prayers and instead He would rather have prayers of praise from us and prayers to Him for others who don’t have a relationship with him? Sometimes I feel like Jesus has heard the same thing from me so much I wonder if He is still listening. Thanks for always being there for our questions

A

There are two levels of forgiveness. One brings us eternal life with God and the other brings us His blessing here on Earth. You can ask Him once and be assured of your salvation when you die or are raptured, but if you also want to maintain a relationship with him before you go to heaven, you have to confess each time you sin. It’s like apologizing to a good friend if you do something that disappoints, embarrasses, or offends them.

There are four good reasons for confessing when we sin and none of them involves protecting our salvation because it doesn’t need protecting. God does that. (2 Cor. 1:21) One reason is that it shows remorse for behavior that’s not consistent with our relationship with the Lord, another is that relieves us of the guilt we feel when we act badly, third it helps us to see where our behavior needs to change in order to be more pleasing to the Lord, and fourth it helps maintain the flow of blessings we receive from Him.

If you find yourself confessing the same things over and over, then you may be identifying behavior that needs to change.