“I beg your pardon! Do excuse me!” - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9

"I beg your pardon! Do excuse me!" Don't we glibly express such sentences too often? They are usually polite, meaningless phrases. But that is not always the case. Sometimes our conscience is burdened: guilt of some kind makes life difficult. How relieved we are, if we can clear the matter through a frank confession!

It is not always wrongs done to our fellowmen that burden us. We have also piled up a huge mass of guilt before our holy God. Can it all be forgiven? Can this accumulation of sin that we have been dragging along be disposed of? Indeed it can! That is the message of the Bible.

On what basis can God forgive sin? God is righteous and cannot simply overlook our wrongdoing. If God forgives sins, it is not because He does not take the matter seriously. Guilt must be atoned for. The Bible states explicitly: without the atoning death of a substitute "there is no remission." (Hebrews 9:22).

Under the Old Testament animal sacrifices gave relief for the conscience, but did not finally settle the matter with God. Everyone stands under God's judgment for his own guilt. We cannot step in as a mediator for others before God. Therefore God Himself provided a substitute: He sent His own Son to earth to offer Himself as the sacrifice to atone for our sins (cf. 1 John 4:10). Jesus Christ sacrificed His own life as the ransom for all who believe in Him (cf. Matthew 20:28).

God is faithful and just to forgive everyone who comes to Him, sincerely confessing his sins. Our sins are then atoned for, because Christ stood in for us and bore the punishment due to us.

Today's reading: Exodus 16:1-12 · Luke 7:11-17