If you have been attending a church for any length of time, you may have noticed people getting “saved” over and over, accepting Jesus again and again. Why do they do this? I believe it is because they may fall away, go back to their old sinful ways, and then, doubting their salvation, they make their way back to the altar to do it all over again and again. (This is not to disparage a backslider’s true return-to-God trip to the altar.) But the reality may be, they are saved, but they sin and feel they aren’t saved. At least that is what the devil would tell them. I think they are in need of the “band aid scripture.”

What is the “band aid scripture” you ask? It is 1 John 1:9. The band aid scripture can save your life.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all sin.” John is writing to believers in this passage and giving them assurance that when they sin, forgiveness AND cleansing are always available. Jesus always takes you back after you mess up, simple as that. He does not discard us. We don’t have to keep going to the altar to “get saved” again. We are saved. Now we need to start believing His promises. This is one of them.

In my Christian journey, I found that the longest distance in the world was between my head and my heart. It is helpful to pray scriptures out loud. My heart hears my verbal confessions of the word of God and eventually my heart embraces the scriptures and agrees with them. I’m not sure why it works that way. There are scriptures that allude to it, such as “Be careful what you hear,” and scriptures about the power in spoken words. I believe that because we are made in the image of God, this establishes the power of spoken words in our lives too. When God spoke, He created. All mankind has this same power in their mouths. It’s a mind-boggling thought!

So feel free to use the band aid scripture every time you have (make) a “boo-boo.” Jesus thought of everything we would need.