Presumptuous Sins

Psalm 19:12-14

Dear Lord,

I need Your Presence and grace. I need Your patient love and endurance. I have blind areas in my life. I have habits that You have yet to reveal as sin to me. In my ignorance I may sin. I may not even be aware of it.

Lord, protect me from guilt in those moments of ignorant sin. John Wesley referred to these sins as “Sin not properly called so.” But something has to be done about it.

I remember asking my mother about sins of ignorance. She explained to me that when I sin in ignorance, atonement must be made. Jesus’ blood shed on Calvary atones even for sins of ignorance and is imputed to me for righteousness sake. As long as I continue to walk in faith, I am not guilty.  But the moment I become aware that my behavior is sin, I must confess and forsake it, trusting Jesus for the blood to cleanse me.

Thank You for my friends, family and coworkers. I want my words and actions to align with You. I want my life to be a winsome testimony for others. Don’t let me persist in sins of ignorance that mar my testimony and compromise another’s faith in You. Help me to live humbly. Help me to have the grace to apologize when You show me light on how wrong I was. 

“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:12-14).

Grow me. Mature me. Enlighten my understanding. Love me patiently. Cleanse me from anything unlike You. I want only to please You. Thank You for the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for me.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Amen.