Monday, January 12, 2015

Coming Clean

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." - James 3:17 ESV

It seems that guilt can make us sick.

"There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning. For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart. O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes - it also has gone from me." - Psalm 38:3-10 ESV

It is better to come clean than it is to hide when we fail or make a mistake.

The Psalms are poetic. The psalmist reports his feelings. The Psalms at times report the feelings of a person but they don't always get the doctrine right... understanding that is important. They are the inspired account of how men think at times. The epistles reveal God's thinking.

There is something sickening about hiding our mistakes with the awareness that on some level that they are being seen anyway. That combination of guilt, shame and a spectator's awareness seems to have a detrimental affect on our soul which then affects our bodies. But, On the other hand there is something amazing about coming clean.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." - 1 John 1:9-10 ESV

God is full of mercy. People may or may not be but God Is. When God's mercy meets our transparency there is a kind of purging that happens. There is a freedom because God will never condemn us. He can't condemn us. Christ was already condemned in our place.

If people only knew that.

If we know it today what freedom we will have. We may fall but we are not setting ourselves up for failure.

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:31 KJV

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