Christian Devotional – October 18, 2025

Life and Love, Day 3

We make the choice, he does the work. Read 1 John 1:8-10.

Our key verse for today, 1 John 1:9 is a extremely popular verse in church circles. We see it used a lot. And the truth in that verse is profound! We see the promise that if we will come to God and confess the wrongs that we have done in our lives, God is the one who is faithful. He is the one who forgives our sin, and he is the one who cleanses us from the sin in our lives.

When we understand this promise, we see that truly the work that has to be done is done by God. God created the way for us to have this opportunity. When we come and ask him, he does the work of forgiving and cleansing. We don’t have to try to get ourselves cleaned up. We don’t have to try to make our lives look good and seem nice before we come to God. He accepts us exactly as we are.

When we make the choice to come to him, he knows that he is able to clean up anything that we bring to him. No one has outsinned God’s ability to forgive and to cleanse. Ultimately, the decision comes to us. It is our choice if we confess. We have to decide that we will recognize sin the way God sees sin and understand that we cannot do the things in our lives that God can do. When we come to God and confess, God forgives and cleanses. We have to make the choice, and then God does the work.

Are we willing to make the choice today? Or are we still busy trying to do the work that only God can do? We can’t get our lives cleaned up enough to be worthy of God. We have to come to him and confess our sins so that he can do the work of forgiving and cleansing.

Watch the video devotional here: https://youtu.be/IpecbyeH9Ks