When I sin against another on my journey of life, how do I respond? Don’t ignore it, brush it off, or minimize our sin. Own it…quickly. All sin is first and foremost against God so keep short accounts with both God and with others. Rush to God and deal with it quickly. Why attempt to excuse it and hang on to the death-like results from sin anyway?
Even with the tremendous resources in the
Triune God, we are still in-process. We possess a “shadow-side” that blocks the
light of God’s love at times. Still, don’t buy into the devil’s deceit since “there is now no condemnation for those in
Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Our Team-of-Three never winks at a response
that dims His image in us, no matter how “small” to us. We are too precious to
our Father to allow us to settle. God is also never surprised, making provision before we even sin to
forgive that specific sin and to deal with the root cause (1 John 1:9).
Most all sin is an illegitimate
way of meeting legitimate, God-given
needs, a counterfeit. Confess means to say the same thing about our act of sin
as God does. Sin grieves God, injures us, undermines relationships within community and clouds our
testimony in the world. In short, sin stinks! Because of His character (“faithful and just”), when we make a
clean breast of our sins, God (1) forgives our sins, and (2) deep
cleanses us at the core level of all our
wrongdoing. So boldly approach God with transparent
honesty in every event. He stretches out His arms to welcome us in. Don’t hide! Instead prosper (Proverbs 28:13)!
Then we ask the person we sinned against to
forgive us, unless this could
be harmful to him/her. As
Christ has forgiven us, taking on
our debt
and bringing it to the cross, so we ask forgiveness of
those we sinned against. Jesus illustrates through a story how essential this is for growth. As
central as worship is, Jesus tells us we cannot worship rightly unless we seek
to be reconciled with those who
have something against us. Of course, only one side
lies within our control…asking the other to forgive us. We come to them
with godly sorrow, grieving for how we hurt them (2 Corinthians 7:10). If the other also
responds, the circle of life is then reunited, restoring fuller unity to the
body (John 17:20-23). However,
this begins with you. Go quickly. Keep short accounts.
In many offenses, both parties may have responded improperly. Ask
forgiveness for all your part, but only your part. Their part is not your
responsibility, at least not now. What if the other refuses to listen or be
reconciled? That is God’s responsibility; fully take care of your contribution
and leave the rest to God. God is serious about growing you. And He will also
deal with the other in the best way for growth.
This is Reflection #31 in my book, Foundation Stones. I also have a web-site with tools, books and "more than Bible studies" that have helped me to live out of this spiritual DNA, www.JimFredericks.com
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