Garbage Day

“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.

Every Monday morning, I get up, go outside, and drag my garbage bins to the curb where the garbage guys come and take my garbage away. In the town that I live in, they won’t take your garbage unless you drag it to the curb and have a red tag on the can. You can purchase the red tag at the local grocery or hardware store (all of the stores have them). The tag simply says that my garbage has been paid for. There have been times when I forgot to take the can to the curb and others days when I failed to put on the red tag. Either way, my garbage didn’t get taken, leaving me with some very full and smelly garbage cans to teach me a very important lesson, make sure that I have the red tag and take it to the curb!

There are two very important spiritual truths here for us. Our verse of the day is from the book of 1 John. The verse starts off with, “If we…” “If” is a conditional word that lays out what happens if we choose to do something, and here that choice is confessing our sins. God will forgive us if we confess our sins. However, the word “if” is followed by another word, “we.” “We” here means, “brothers and sisters in Christ.” It means men and women who have come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. We must have Christ’s blood to cover our sin for it to be taken away. If we haven’t trusted in Jesus Christ as our Savior and our Lord, the garbage of our sin remains with us. However, if we have the tag of Christ’s blood covering us, indicating that we have been paid for, and then He will take away our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

There is a second part to this truth. The first step is having the tag, but the second step is taking it to the curb. If I have the tag, but don’t take the garbage to the curb, then they won’t take it away. And if the garbage stays with us, our lives begin to fester and stink. Our garbage must be taken away! We must first have salvation (the red tag), but after we are saved, we must confess our sins (drag it to the curb) for them to take it away (or for Christ to forgive us).

So, today, take your garbage of sin to the curb in confession with the tag of Christ’s blood attached to it, knowing that no matter what the garbage may be, He will take it away and forgive. Amen.