1 John 1:9 .... If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
What an opportunity....to come to the Lord with all our sins....all our trespasses....and our iniquities, to lay them at the foot of the cross, never to pick them back up again.... I preached many a sermon on Repentance and the importance of keeping the "slate" clean. Some times I was asked, should I ask forgiveness for each time I sin? My answer was simple, it was "YES" and this is the reasoning behind it.
When you had your oil changed in your vehicle last time you took it to someone you trusted.....hopefully....you know that they drained out the old oil and put in the new oil, and the oil level was surely at full. And, from time to time when you feel like it, you check the oil level, just to see if it was still full, even knowing if your vehicle wasn't known to use oil, or leak out oil, you still check it periodically. WHY? Because you want to be sure it is full, because you don't want any damage to your engine, because you know if it gets low, it could hurt the car.....to the point where it could lock up the engine or blow a rod or piston.....
This is the same reasoning behind keeping your "spiritual" oil level up to the full mark. I've had folks tell me that they don't sin..... "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8 It is all around us the influence of this sin filled world, and sooner or later we are gonna step in it and every time we do, we lose a little of our "spiritual" oil, and we have to keep it in check, this is why I recommend repentance becomes part of your life's cycle, every time you have the chance, get on our knees and seek out God for forgiveness. Why take a chance on your Salvation? I would say MAN UP and admit our major fault is PRIDE and then HUMBLE ourselves to the Lord, earnestly seeking Him out.
And know this.....the oil in your vehicle is more likely to disappear one drop at a time, more or less go unnoticed, until it is too late, then boom melt down city.....so this is one reason we keep a check on it, so like sin in our life, many small sins....(since mankind likes to categorize sin by sizes...) will rob us of our Spiritual oil, and we become hardened inside, we begin to believe that God wouldn't deny us access to Heaven for that little sin...would He? Such dangerous thoughts will send us to Hell, in a heartbeat, with the Devil laughing in our face the whole time.
So, I recommend repentance .... keep your Salvation in check by keeping your Spiritual oil level in check... why chance it?
