Back in the 70’s there was a TV show that was very popular called The Waltons. It captivated the nation, and took us all back into what America was like during the Great Depression. One of the repeated references within the show featured a couple of unmarried sisters that lived in one of the largest and nicest homes in the mountain area. They never seemed to lack anything, while everybody else experienced the full impact of the great depression. Simultaneously, they were living under Prohibition, a time in the United States when it was illegal to buy or sell alcohol.

The sisters lived in their deceased father’s house and held very tightly the closely guarded family secret- “The Recipe.” The recipe was the formula that their father had developed to make whiskey, commonly referred to as moonshine. But the sisters were the only source of alcohol in the area because they had “The Recipe.”

I became a born-again Christian at about age 23 at which time my life was changed forever – and for the better. I am convinced that I wouldn’t be alive today if it were not for Jesus. But even though Jesus had changed me into a new person, I had developed some really bad habits from my pre-Christian days that are embarrassing to me today and, for people who know me now, perhaps might be a little hard to believe.

One of these nasty habits I developed in college was smoking. Giving up smoking can be and often is a difficult habit to break. Thankfully for me, the Lord took the habit of smoking away from me in the blink of the eye. Some would call that a miracle. Let’s just say I was and am extremely grateful for that.

The other ugly habit that I had developed was swearing – a lot. It had become a part of my everyday language. I’m not sure why. I never heard any of that in my home growing up. My parents never swore. But my friends did. In hindsight, I suppose I wanted to fit in and so my vocabulary began to reflect my friends and surroundings.

A good friend of mine who I reached out to at the time – an old friend who I knew had become a Christian a few years ahead of me – taught me the principle of forgiveness of sin. I have come to think of this now as, “The Recipe”, but now it refers to the Biblical recipe for forgiveness.

The Bible teaches us there are two parts to this formula. The first is coming together with friends and just being honest with each other. That’s not easy, but it’s important.

The second part is what my friend coined as “spiritual breathing.” It may sound strange at first but let me explain a little further.

The best illustration I can give you is regarding my swearing habit. I learned to confess before God anytime I let out a swear word. The confession part was like pulling a weed out of a garden. Once you pull it out, it’s no longer there. But it was as though my mind had stored every past swear word as a weed, so it took many repeated confessions to pull them all out. But one by one, my brain began to be washed clean of the filth that had taken root.

We confess our sin—the exhale. The Lord forgives us and cleanses us of all unrighteousness—the inhale. I believe He restores us to health each time we exhale our confession of sin and inhale a fresh dose of forgiveness.

Whether you are not a Christian yet, or if you are a long-time Christian like me, “The Recipe” works equally for all. And that is the greatest news!