BE HONEST AND ADMIT YOUR SIN

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin
the Lord will never count against them.”
(Romans 4:7-8)

MEDITATION:
When we sin against the Lord and want to be forgiven,
there are several reasons which might stand in the way
of forgiveness. Here are just a few:
    1. We try to justify our sins.
    2. We tend to ‘rank’ our sins from insignificant
        to significant (and many levels in between).
    3. We compare our sins to the sins of others.
    4. We refer to our sins as a ‘weak area’ of our lives.
    5. We fail to confess the ‘specific’ sin we have committed.

Taking these one at a time, let’s see why each one is wrong

“We try to justify our sins”
    – We can concoct all kinds of excuses for our sinful actions.
          “Some event in my life causes me to sin”.
          “Disappointment in others causes me to sin”.
          “Low self-esteem causes me to sin”.
          “Depression or some other medial issue causes me to sin”.
      When we are constantly making excuses for our sins, then
      we are not admitting them, and we are basically giving
      ourselves permission to repeat them in the future. The
      bottom line is, we do not have a repentant heart yet.

“We tend to ‘rank’ our sins from insignificant
to significant (and many levels in between)”
    – When we ‘rank’ our sins we are circumventing God’s position
      that ALL sin is equally unrighteous disobedience of His standards.
      Ranking them causes us to have ‘less guilt’ over the ones we have
      ranked lower. This means we are giving ourselves permission to
      continue committing these sins in the future without feeling that
      we need to confess them and ask forgiveness.

“We compare our sins to the sins of others”
    – Comparing our sins to the sins of others also helps us to
      ignore the fact that in God’s eyes, all sin is disobedience.
      In spite of His view (which is the most important one) we
      convince ourselves that since our sins “aren’t as bad”, then
      we are okay with committing them from time to time. After
      all, the scriptures tell us that we all fall short, so we just need
      to limit our sins to the ones which are lesser than the sins of
      others. That is how Satan (the father of lies) can have an impact
      on our thoughts and logic.

“We refer to our sins as a weak area of our lives”
    – Rather than calling our sins what they are, we refer to them
      as ‘weak areas’ which doesn’t sound as bad. Worse than that,
      we are basically blaming God for our failures. In essence, we
      are saying,
          “God, You made me this way, so it is Your fault.You
            should have made me differently so I wouldn’t have
            my struggle with this sin”.

“We fail to confess the ‘specific’ sin we have committed”
    – As long as we can ‘group’ our sins into a general category
      we don’t have to admit that we have committed a specific
      sin and we won’t feel as bad about them.
      For instance. let’s assume someone has committed adultery.
      If we refer to it as “sins I have committed”, then we are failing
      to admit that we have broken a specific Ten Commandment
      from God.
      Society can contribute in our failure to admit this specific
      sin. We have been ‘conditioned’ to call it an “affair” rather
      than “adultery”. An “affair” sounds like something mild
      that is not severe enough ask for the Lord’s forgiveness.
      It is merely something that we are working on improving.
      This is how Satan can distort and corrupt our thoughts
      regarding righteousness.

The ‘bottom line’ is, we need to be honest with the Lord about
our sins. We can treat them any way we want to, but it doesn’t
hide them and their seriousness from God. The more we try to
dilute our sins (so they do not seem (or ‘feel’) as bad), the more
we desensitize ourselves to our sins, and the greater our potential
for continuing to commit them.

We need to be specific about our sins when asking for the Lord
to forgive us, if we genuinely want to break free from the chains
of sin and receive God’s mercy and forgiveness. Recognizing sin
for what it really is, and asking God’s forgiveness, is a giant step
in our efforts to move away from the sin that continually imprisons
us.

We might be able to fool others, or convince them that the sins we
are committing are okay as long as we love the Lord, but God reads
our hearts.
    But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his
    appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
    The Lord does not look at the things people look at.
    People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord
    looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:17)

Our actions convey the sincerity of our guilt and desire to be forgiven.
    As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.
    (Proverbs 17:19)

    Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
    hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which
    look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are
    full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.
    In the same way, on the outside you appear to people
    as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy
    and wickedness. (Matthew 23:27-28)

    Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into
    them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles
    them. (Mark 7:15)

    Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees
    clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you
    are full of greed and wickedness. (Luke 11:39)

There’s a story about a king who visited a slave ship. He went
below to talk to those who were chained to the oars and he asked
one man, “Why are you here?” He replied, “Sire, I don’t know
why I am here. I was in a crowd when a crime was committed.
When they arrested everybody, they got me. I am innocent.”

He asked another who replied, “I am not really guilty, but
I am a victim of false witnesses who have lied about me.”

As the king went through the galley, each one of them had
some reason why he was innocent and should not be there,
until he came to one man and he said, “Why are you here?”
The man replied,
    “Sire, I am here because I deserve to be here. I have sinned
      against my God. I have sinned against my king and now I am
      paying the penalty for my sin.”

When the king heard that, he stepped back and he said,
    “You knave. What are you doing here among so many
     honest men? Guards release him and get him out of here!”

Not until we admit our sin are we going to
know the mercy and the forgiveness of the king.

ACTION:
Do you find yourself trying to justify your actions, (and your sins)?
Today, choose to start being honest with the Lord about your sins.
It’s not as if God does not know of your sins, even though you might
try to justify, hide or dilute their severity.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, help me to recognize my sins for
what they are, which is sin against You and Your
commands. When I pray, remind me to be specific
when confessing my sins and asking for Your
forgiveness. Forgive me for how I have tried to
reduce the seriousness of my sins and teach me
how to pray when I sincerely want You to grant
me mercy, and forgive me for my disobedience.”

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