Teshuvah for future pure service

בהפטורה כל תשא עון וקח טוב.

In the haftarah: "Forgive all iniquity and accept the good" (Hoshea 14:3).

The Sefas Emes opens with the pasuk from the Shabbos Shuva haftarah, in which we ask Hashem both to remove our sins and to receive the good in us.

יש לפרש מה שנעשה מכאן ולהבא.

One may explain that this refers to what happens from here onward.

Beyond simply erasing the past, the request "accept the good" is oriented toward the future — what we will become after teshuvah.

שצריך האדם לבקש שיתקבל לפני הבורא ית' בתשובה.

For a person must ask that he be accepted before the Creator, may He be blessed, through teshuvah (repentance).

The point of teshuvah is not only to be pardoned but to be received and welcomed close before Hashem once more.

כדי שיוכל לעבוד לפניו בטהרה.

So that he may be able to serve before Him in purity (taharah).

The goal of being accepted is forward-looking: to be cleansed so that one can now serve Hashem with a pure heart.

וכמ"ש עמך הסליחה למען תורא:

And as it is written: "For with You is forgiveness, so that You may be feared" (Tehillim 130:4).

Hashem's forgiveness exists not as an end in itself but "so that You may be feared" — to enable renewed yiras Shomayim and pure avodah going forward.

Summary: "Accept the good" is not merely about wiping away past sins but about the future — a person does teshuvah in order to be received before Hashem and thereby able to serve Him in purity. As the pasuk teaches, Hashem's forgiveness is granted precisely so that we may go on to fear and serve Him anew.