Readings:
Psalm 32
Ephesians 4:7-16
Focus:
Psalm 32:3-5: "While I refused to speak, my body wasted away with day-long moaning. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; the sap in me dried up as in summer drought. When I acknowledged my sin to you, when I no longer concealed my guilt, but said, 'I shall confess my offense to the Lord,' then you for your part remitted the penalty of my sin."
So often pride keeps us from admitting it when we have done wrong. Not only do we not want to acknowledge what we have done to others; we don't even want to acknowledge it to ourselves.
Yet when we do wrong things, it eats away at us. God has made us such that we are only constituted for doing what is right. When we do wrong, it as if we were ill; we don't work correctly. There is a malaise within us. Years of habituating ourselves to cultural approval of what is wrong may bury this deep. But it is there.
It is only when we acknowledge our wrongdoing (whether it is small or not so small) to ourselves, to those we have wronged, and, most importantly of all, to God, that we can rid ourselves of this malaise and truly be free. God remits the penalty of our sin. We are whole again.
Showing posts with label confession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confession. Show all posts
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sin from the Start
Readings:
I Chronicles 10
Acts 6
Focus:
Acts 6:1a:"During this period, when disciples were growing in number, a grievance arose on the part of those who spoke Greek, against those who spoke the language of the Jews."
Even though the brand new church of Jesus Christ was beginning with great grace and wonders, and even miracles, it did not take long before a grievance came up between different members of the church. They fell into ethnic camps and started making accusations of each other. The apostles had to settle this problem by setting up more of a church structure, in effect starting the order of deacons.
If I had naive expectations, I might have thought that the very first Christians would have been without flaw, showing us succeeding generations the ideal of what it ought to be like to be a Christian. But instead, from the very start, sin crept in. In this case, either people were taking sides, or else people thought that other people were taking sides. In either case, it was sin.
Sin crept in from the very start because Christians are just like any other people. They are part of the world, and the world is infected with sin. That's why Jesus had to come into the world, to save us from the consequences of that sin. The only difference between Christians and other people is that Christians have acknowledged that fact, have recognized that Jesus took the punishment instead of them, have given their lives to Jesus, and are doing their best to avoid sinning. But being human, they're not able to be perfect.
So Christians need to keep returning to God to confess their new sins and ask for forgiveness. The great thing is that we know that God will forgive us. But we can't let that knowledge make us complacent. We still need to try our best to avoid new sins. Not only is this better for us, but it is also better for everyone else. Thank God that although we are prone to err, he is merciful to forgive!
I Chronicles 10
Acts 6
Focus:
Acts 6:1a:"During this period, when disciples were growing in number, a grievance arose on the part of those who spoke Greek, against those who spoke the language of the Jews."
Even though the brand new church of Jesus Christ was beginning with great grace and wonders, and even miracles, it did not take long before a grievance came up between different members of the church. They fell into ethnic camps and started making accusations of each other. The apostles had to settle this problem by setting up more of a church structure, in effect starting the order of deacons.
If I had naive expectations, I might have thought that the very first Christians would have been without flaw, showing us succeeding generations the ideal of what it ought to be like to be a Christian. But instead, from the very start, sin crept in. In this case, either people were taking sides, or else people thought that other people were taking sides. In either case, it was sin.
Sin crept in from the very start because Christians are just like any other people. They are part of the world, and the world is infected with sin. That's why Jesus had to come into the world, to save us from the consequences of that sin. The only difference between Christians and other people is that Christians have acknowledged that fact, have recognized that Jesus took the punishment instead of them, have given their lives to Jesus, and are doing their best to avoid sinning. But being human, they're not able to be perfect.
So Christians need to keep returning to God to confess their new sins and ask for forgiveness. The great thing is that we know that God will forgive us. But we can't let that knowledge make us complacent. We still need to try our best to avoid new sins. Not only is this better for us, but it is also better for everyone else. Thank God that although we are prone to err, he is merciful to forgive!
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