Why do Christians say sorry to God when they pray?

A Christian is somebody who has said ‘yes’ to God’s love and forgiveness. Christians believe that with the help of the Holy Spirit they are learning and growing to live God's way. However just because a Christian is learning to live God’s way, doesn’t mean they get things right all the time. Christians know they sometimes make mistakes and bad choices, they know they don't always manage to live God’s way.


In fact all Christians at one time or another make mistakes and  bad choices. The Bible calls the wrong things people do ‘sin’. Christians believe sin makes God sad because it spoils the things he loves - it spoils a person’s friendship with God. However the Bible teaches that making mistakes and bad choices doesn’t stop someone being a Christian and certainly doesn’t stop God loving them.

The Bible teaches that God longs to forgive people for the wrong things they have done; he wants to wipe away the sin that spoils. The Bible teaches that when a person has done something wrong they can say sorry to God and he will forgives them straight away and the sin that spoils is wiped away.

However Christians believe that even when they have said sorry to God they often still need to put things right or say sorry to other people, but they believe a good place to start is to say sorry to God and ask Him to help us get things right next time.