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“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – Romans 3:23. ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Even Christians, who have been washed and renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5), sin. David, a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), sinned in a major way! Let’s face it, we ALL sin. And after you sin, you may ask yourself (as I often do), “Now what?” Here is some biblical advice on what to do after you have sinned.

1) Admit that you have sinned- There is no point in denying it. It is part of our nature. We sin because we are sinners. David does exactly this when he is confronted by the prophet Nathan for his sins with Bathsheba:

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3).

We mustn’t sweep our sin under the carpet and act as if it doesn’t matter, because it does.

2) Confess your sin to God and ask Him for forgiveness- Once you have admitted that you have sin, confess it to God! Ask for forgiveness! This is the model that David gives us in Psalm 51: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight… blot out all my iniquities” (v.4a, 9b).

John gives us some very encouraging words about confessing our sin and God’s forgiveness:

“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).

When we confess our sins to God, we can rest assured in the fact God will forgive our sins. John doesn’t say that He might forgive us, or that He probably will forgive us, but that He will forgive us. This is a one-hundred percent guarantee! This is because God is faithful and just! If you confess your sin to God, He will forgive you. Let us not dwell too long on our sin, but confess it and rejoice in the forgiveness of God!

3) Beg the Lord to cleanse you from your sin and restore you to the joy of His salvation-

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me… Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51:10,12)

After I sin I feel such a separation from God. And this is rightly so! I am a sinful wretch, and He is the holy Creator of the heavens and the earth! But God can close this separation, this gap. He can (and will if you ask) restore you to the joy of His salvation. He can make you feel close to Him once again. So let us all follow the example of David and beg the Lord to “renew a right spirit within [us]” and “restore [us] to the joy of [His] salvation.”

4) Read Psalm 51- Did you sin big? So did David. This chapter of the Bible is so helpful to read because not only does it give us a model of true contrition and brokenness over sin, it tells us what we need to do to act on this contrition! You are not alone! We ALL sin!

5) After admitting and confessing your sin and asking God to restore your joy in Him, dwell on the truths of the cross. There are many verses that deal with what happened at Calvary, but there are few (if any!) verses that address the cross in as clear and concise a way as 2 Corinthians 5:21. It says,

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

For the sake of His sheep, God make Him (Christ, who was perfect) to be sin for us. God punished His perfect Son for our sins! We no longer have to face the wrath of God! Christ drank the cup of His Father’s wrath at the cross! We no longer will taste the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:55), but have victory (1 Corinthians 15:57)! And not only did God punish His Son in our place, He graciously credited the righteousness of Christ to us. “In Him we [are] the righteousness of God.” We are totally, completely, and fully perfect in front of a holy God! This is all because of Christ! And let me tell you, there is nothing better than dwelling on this incredible truth after sinning against God. Even though you have sinned against Him, your status before Him doesn’t change. Why? Because your status before God is not dependent on your own righteousness, but on the righteousness of Jesus Christ! I find that God uses the truths of the cross to restore joy in Him! After all, there is nothing more joyous than having a relationship with Jesus Christ! And we have this blessed relationship because of what was accomplished on the cross!

6) Live the rest of the day for the glory of God! If you are in Christ, you have been forgiven. Your sin has been paid for. There is absolutely no use in continuing to dwell on your sin. Don’t let yourself get down and depressed the rest of the day. God is forgiving, and in Him you have the power to defeat sin! (See Romans 6:6-14).

Now if you’re anything like me, you will sin a lot. I don’t do these things every time I sin (I sin WAY too much to do that!). I try to do these things when I sin big and do something I know was wrong. And at the end of the day, I try to recall all of the sins (though I remember very few of them) I committed and confess them to God. I ask for His forgiveness and ask Him to grant me obedience in the areas that I struggle with. Even though I am not able to confess each sin and repent of each individually, it still feels so good to confess my sins at the end of each day!

It is my prayer that this post will help you run to God after you have sinned. I am praying that God will sanctify each of us, and that we will be pleasing Him in everything we do!

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