It’s a Bomb!
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 NKJV.
So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man. – Acts 24:16 NIV.
Steve Martin of Atascosa County, Texas had a Civil War relic sitting on his desk for years that he used as a paperweight. Martin’s son, Jarrett, found what looked like an artillery shell while fishing on the Guadeloupe River. It was a conversation piece and when people came into his office, they would often pick up the shell and look at it.
Martin thought the shell was a dummy round, but when a truck driver visited his office one day the driver said it looked like a live shell. When experts examined the shell, it was identified as a Parrott shell used during the Civil War and that it was indeed live. The shell could have exploded at any time while it was sitting on Martin’s desk or while it was being handled.
The artillery shell was made for a cannon used by the Union Army that was muzzle-loaded, invented in 1860 by Robert Parker. A bomb squad from Camp Bullis north of San Antonio safely detonated the artillery shell. After finding out about the danger that had been sitting on his desk all those years, Martin said, “If someone hands you something, it may be a hot potato!” (MSN 08.06.26; KENS 5)
Have you ever known that you have sinned but have not asked for forgiveness? It is a trap that some fall into knowing that the things they are involved in are not pleasing to God. But while they know it is wrong they refuse to repent, meaning they continue in their sinfulness without confessing their sin and asking for the Lord’s forgiveness. Why would someone do that? Because they are not truly repentant and plan to continue on in doing what they know they should not do.
I have been in the situation I described years ago. When I truly turned to God in repentance, meaning, I stopped what I knew I should not be involved in I had peace and God blessed me for that decision. In the Book of Judges, we have repeated examples of people who turn away from God and life becomes worse and worse for them until they turn again to God for help. We do not want to be in a situation like is described in Isaiah 59:2 which says, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”
Unrepentance is like an unexploded bomb that is sitting there inside of you waiting to go off. The longer you wait to repent, the more damage is done to your fellowship with the Lord and He may hide His face from you and not hear your prayers. We can fall into a situation like that in the Book of Judges where life becomes unbearable. We should develop the habit of immediately confessing and asking forgiveness of any known sin. We should want to have the same attitude as the apostle Paul as he says, “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man (Acts 24:16).”