“Till sin be bitter; Christ will not be sweet.” Thomas Watson, the Puritan, said that. I agree.
Make sin taste bitter and repentance taste sweet.
I texted that to girlfriends who love rebellious teens with me. We don’t always know how to pray. But that one sentence I pray often.
Because I know from experience that joy comes when we repent. God gives it with forgiveness when we confess. Repent, therefore, that times of refreshing may come.
Make sin taste bitter and repentance taste sweet.
I pray that simple prayer so real joy will come to the rebels I love. And if I revert to rebel ways, I hope my loved ones pray it for me. Because it is not healthy or right to think lightly of sin.
Listen to British preacher C.H. Spurgeon,
Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior. He who has stood before his God, convicted and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned, to hate evil which has been forgiven him, and to live to the honour of the Redeemer by whose blood he has been cleansed.
Make sin taste bitter and repentance taste sweet.
Remember J.I. Packer’s definition of repentance?
Repentance is turning from as much as you know of your sin, to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of God.
So why don’t we all just repent? And confess and repent? And confess and repent?
But the Prodigal didn’t repent, he didn’t return, until his sin tasted bitter. Until he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
Make sin taste bitter and repentance taste sweet.
In Luke 15:17-18 we read,
But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
We know how what happened then. A father runs and kisses and hugs. Servants prepare marbled steaks to celebrate.
But before the son ate the savory steak, the pig scraps tasted bitter.
Dear Heavenly Father, Make sin taste bitter and repentance taste sweet. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Psalm 32:5
