What are you hiding?
Recently, we’ve had some hard conversations with a friend about hidden sin, and it really has gotten me deep in thought about sin and reflecting on the sins in my life.
(Surprise! God can make anything a teaching moment.)
So, what am I hiding?
I think it’s so easy to put sin on a scale. It’s like running a stop sign isn’t as bad as murder. & Legally, morally, ethically … that statement is right. BUT in the eyes of our father, that statement is wrong. James 2:10 tells us, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it". So sin is sin and God sees it as such. There isn’t a scale of justice in his eyes - it’s simply all bad until we repent. … which takes me to my next train of thought …
Repentance.
How often am I asking for repentance for both known and unknown sins and hidden sins? And am I asking for just a one-stop-shop repentance to cover it all, or am I taking time to truly acknowledge where I’m falling short, feel the shame, and address it with the father so I can be better? 1 John 1:9 tells us, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But it doesn’t explicitly say we have to list everything. But when I go back to Psalms 51:17 or 32:5 and I think about the heart posture and deliberateness that David is taking in his confession I think it goes show we do need to list everything.
All this to say … I NEED to be better at repentance.
ALL of my sin is SIN. regardless of how serious the world may take it, I know the standards of my God. And asking for a blanketed, “Dear Lord, forgive me for my shortcomings today,” at the end of the night isn’t really approaching repentance with the heart posture God is seeking in us.
I need to stop approaching repentance as a check mark and start approaching it like a to do list.
What I’ve really began to understand in this past week of reflection is that we don’t repent for salvation. Obviously, we do when we invite him into our hearts and lives, but the act of ongoing repentance isn’t the act of securing our salvation. Salvation is secured when we invite the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts. Ongoing repentance is STILL important though.
Seeking God through repentance shows our desire to continue to grow in our closeness with Him.
Ongoing repentance is important for us to continue to grow as Christians, to be good stewards of the gospel, and to help teach others in the body of Christ. BUT most importantly, ongoing repentance is essentially us humbling turning down our flesh to pursue fellowship with the Father.
Repentance is turning away from sin and turning towards God.
Where I’m at now is asking God to reveal the hidden sins in my life while confessing the sins I know I hide. It’s not easy. It’s not fun. But it is cleansing.
I’m setting the weight of sin at his altar for his healing me.
I know I’m never going to be perfect, and I know I’m going to continue to sin by choice or happenstance, but now I also know how to carry that to the Father.
This year, we released the “Walk Through Psalms” non-dated planner. In creating that planner, I was hoping to deepen my prayer life and emulate a prayer walk similar to David’s level of vulnerabililty. What I didn’t expect was so many hard lessons so early on in the year. What I am grateful for though is the opportunity to hone in on these new lessons, so I truly can deepen my relationship with the Father and grow closer in fellowship to him.
As we go into this week, I challenge you to bring something from the darkness of this broken world to light in your life. I know we all have some hidden shame, worry, guilt, or insecurity we aren’t truly laying down at the altar. I also know it’s scary and can even seem foolish to list out all the details. BUT the most important thing I have learned is darkness always comes to light, and once it’s in the light - that’s when God can help us heal and grow. That’s when the load becomes lighter. That’s when he can turn our bad into something for the better.
God’s Love & Mine,
Christina
