We all know that we are sinners. Even those that have never been inside a church building know that something is wrong with us. We lie, cheat, and deceive. We can be mean, spiteful, pain-causing, grudge-holding people. We hurt our spouses. We hurt our friends. We hurt our parents. We hurt our children. We do things we know we shouldn’t do. We don’t do things we know we should do.
Such sins are truly bad. But our worst sin, the sin of all sins, is our unbelief. We refuse to turn to God and let him cleanse us from our wrong ways. Now we have our excuses why we haven’t turned to him the way he wants us to turn to him. But they all boil down to unbelief. We really don’t want to get any closer to God than a little religion. We fear that we would lose ground, not gain ground, in the pursuit of happiness if we turn to God with all of our heart. So we pursue happiness on our own path — the path of sin and self-will.
But this is a mistake. God is not a worse option for happiness than our own designs. As a man who hasn’t had a shower for days enjoys the feeling of being clean again, so those who turn to God enjoy the cleansing they receive. He cleans up their heart and life. He erases their criminal record. And with the cleansing he gives joy — joy the world does not know and cannot give. So turn to God.