When we're wrong, we can still please God by admitting we're wrong and asking for his forgiveness.
Bible Reading: 1 John 1:8-10.
If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong (1 John 1:9).
Kaneesha heard the siren before her dad did. She turned around and looked out the car’s rear window. “Daddy,” she said, “I think that policeman’s following you!”
Dad looked in the rearview mirror and then glanced quickly at his speedometer. “Oh, no,” he groaned. He checked the rearview mirror again before pulling over to the side of the road.
“Are you in trouble, Daddy?” Kaneesha asked.
Dad didn’t answer Kaneesha right away. He just sighed, pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and got his driver’s license out.
“Are you going to get arrested, Daddy?” Kaneesha asked.
Dad finally answered his daughter. “No, Kaneesha. The policeman’s not going to arrest me. But he’ll probably give me a ticket.”
A police officer walked up to Dad’s window. “Do you know how fast you were going, sir?” he asked.
Dad nodded and said, “Yes, sir, I do. I was going too fast.”
The officer nodded. “I’ll need to see your license, registration, and insurance card.” Once he was handed the items, he took them back to his car.
Kaneesha turned around and watched the police officer. “What’s he doing now, Daddy?” she asked.
“He’s writing me a ticket.”
“What’s a ticket?”
Dad thought for a moment. “Well, Kaneesha, it’s a way of punishing people for doing the wrong thing. I was going too fast back there. So he has to write a ticket that tells me how much money I have to pay as punishment for breaking the law.”
Kaneesha wrinkled her forehead. “You could have told the policeman you didn’t really go that fast.”
“But that would be lying,” Dad said. He turned in his seat to face Kaneesha. “God wants us to do the right thing, because it makes him happy when we act like him.”
“It makes him sad when we do the wrong thing, doesn’t it, Daddy?”
“That’s right, Kaneesha. But even when we do the wrong thing, we can still make him happy by admitting we’re wrong and asking for his forgiveness.”
“Sometimes,” Kaneesha said, just as the police officer appeared at the window “even daddies can be wrong.”
TO DISCUSS: Why is it important to admit to something we’ve done wrong? How is forgiveness related to God’s faithfulness?
TO PRAY: Take this opportunity to bring anything you have done wrong to the Lord. Ask for his forgiveness.
