Yesterday I left off with asking you to seek God and search your lives for anything that you need to bring to God and ask forgiveness for. I’m sure there were good times had by all. Not!
Confessing our sins to God is not something that we throw a party for, but more like pulling a bad tooth, we find relief. Some may have read that post yesterday and thought to themselves, “I don’t want to talk to God about the sin in my life.” There’s a few reasons for that. One could be they don’t want to stop that specific sin. They don’t feel that specific sin warrants telling God, after all it’s so little, he doesn’t have time for that little sin. Another still could be they fear God and what he would do to them upon confessing. After all he may throw down a lightning bolt or flatten their tires on purpose. Not!
Do you want to know one of the biggest reasons people are unwilling to confess their sins to God the father? S-H-A-M-E
Shame keeps people from doing lots of things, especially when it comes to dealing head on with the sin in our lives. Shame will keep us locked up in our sins like a padlock on a safe. If people confess it, then they have to face it and some people are not willing to face the shame they feel in their lives. It’s easier for some people to keep it under lock and key, never to be released, but always in their presence. Some people will let it take up residence in their lives never to be released and let go.
There’s a story on Luke 18 I want you to take a gander at. It’s the parable of the Pharisee and the tax Collector. From Luke 18:9-14:
“18:9 Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. 18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this:‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people:extortionists,unrighteous people, adulterers – or even like this tax collector.18:12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 18:13 The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’18:14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee.For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“The tax collector did not plead his good works but the mercy of God in forgiving his sin.God reckoned him to be righteous, i.e., his sins were forgiven and he was credited with righteousness.”
We’ll dive into this more tomorrow, but in the meantime, seek the Father again and see if there is anything you have been hiding for fear of feeling shame.
In His Service
Jeanette
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