No matter how intently we pursue full obedience to the King, we will always fail at times. There are none who stand perfectly and none who do not sin. John tells us that if we say that we have no sin, we call God a liar… the question is this: How do we deal with that sin when we fail? Do we run and hide? Do we crawl under a rock and pray that God doesn’t notice? Do we stand in arrogance and pretend that we had the right to act as we pleased and that no one, not even God Himself has the right or ability to question us? Do we set our hearts and faces like flint and scream that no one can judge us? None of these responses are faithful to the King or acceptable from citizens of the Kingdom. Instead we are called to repent, to remember that our forgiveness is a purchased and completed thing. That we have already been redeemed from the bondage of THAT sin as well as from all others. But oh, my precious child, we must also remember the cost of that rebellion… that our forgiveness is purchased at a terrible cost, that the blood of Jesus was spilt in agony, and that the Son endured the wrath of God which was the penalty for our sin! For us to pretend that we have no reason to sorrow, to mourn, to weep over our sin is folly, and what is more, it is an affront to His sacrifice! We are to cry out to God for mercy! And we are to do so with full knowledge of just how much that mercy cost Him… but we also must balance that with the certain knowledge that no one forces Him to forgive, just as no one forced Him to pay that price. He is willing to do all that is needful because of His great love with which He loved us, this fact makes it all more important that we not abuse that mercy… that we honor His sacrifice by living according to His will, that we love Him with our lives as He loved us with our lives as He loved us with His.