Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
 – Psalm 139:23-24

As God searches our hearts, what might he find?  Perhaps:

anxiety

frustration

discontentment

unthankfulness

pride

selfishness

lack of self-control

impatience

irritability

anger

bitterness

unforgiveness

judgmentalism

envy

jealousy

gossip

slander

hurtful words

worldliness

idolatry

As we find sin in our lives, we join David in crying out:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
– Psalm 51:1-2

And the good news is that as we cry out for mercy, we find 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

All this is because of God’s amazing love for us:

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
– Romans 5:8

He died to pay for our sins so that we might be:

forgiven

clean

white as snow

pure

declared righteous

saved from God’s righteous wrath

reconciled

given new life

changed

transformed

adopted

given hope of resurrection

and so much more!

At the end of John Newton’s life he said he remembered two things:

I am a great sinner,
and Christ is a great Savior.

As we consider these twin truths,
let us give thanks to God for his incredible love
that reached out to save us undeserving sinners
through the death of our Savior.