CASTIMONIA

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Confession

Confession – Keith B – NotUnknown.com

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

I confessed my sins in secret. I didn’t spend a lot of time on it and didn’t see the importance. 1 John states the results of confession – forgiveness and purification from unrighteousness. But what if we don’t confess our sins? What happens then?

My life was an example of unconfessed sin and incorporated shame. My exposure to pornography and an unwanted sexual experience at an early age warped my view of my value to God and my ability to confess sin. I didn’t believe that confession to God or to others was possible. I thought my sin was more, different, and unforgivable. Sin and temptation meant judgment, not confession or grace.

Unconfessed sin rotted me from the inside. I had no true compass. I developed two selfs, my inner self and my outer self. My outer self is who I wanted to be, who I wanted the world to see, who I wanted my wife to see. I believed that if she ever saw my inner self, she wouldn’t stay with me. So I didn’t allow that to happen. Confession remained unthinkable.

Confession isn’t something I entered of my own will. I was exposed. My unconfessed sin was found out. I had a choice – continue hiding my true self alone or confess. Confession for me came with no guarantees. I didn’t know if my marriage would survive.

Confession did transform me. I turned over my inner self to God, something I hadn’t done before. Confessing to him meant opening myself to others as well. I started with my counselor, then my accountability partners, then my wife. My choices caused great harm to so many. My confession gave them hope that I could give my life to God to redeem me.

Obedience to God’s command to confess my sins to Him and to others led to overt examples of His unending grace. My wife heard my confession. She was damaged by my sin. She had hope because of my confession. My obedience allowed her to see that I could be honest and transparent with her. My willingness to disclose and to validate with a polygraph examination allowed her to see that I had been honest with God and had confessed to Him, seeking forgiveness and grace.

Life today doesn’t look perfect. My wife and I have a relationship unlike any time in our twenty-eight years of marriage. We reveal our flaws and our struggles to each other. The damage I have caused her through my violation of her trust and our marriage vows hasn’t miraculously disappeared. We practice honesty, though. Daily. We confess to God and to each other. We confess our shortcomings and celebrate His grace.

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A Small Piece of the Puzzle

Revenge belongs to God. If vengeance is God’s, then it is not ours. God has not asked us to settle the score or get even. Ever.

Why? The answer is found in Joseph’s statement: “You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done.”

Forgiveness comes easier with a wide-angle lens. Joseph uses one to get the whole picture. He refuses to focus on the betrayal of his brothers without also seeing the loyalty of his God.

It always helps to see the big picture.

Some time ago I was in an airport lobby when I saw an acquaintance enter. He was a man I hadn’t seen in a while but had thought about often. He’d been through a divorce, and I was close enough to it to know that he deserved some of the blame.

I noticed he was not alone. Beside him was a woman. Why, that scoundrel! Just a few months out and here he has another lady?

Any thought of greeting him disappeared as I passed judgment on his character. But then he saw me. He waved at me. He motioned me over. I was caught. I was trapped. I’d have to go visit with the reprobate. So I did.

“Max, meet my aunt and her husband.”

I gulped. I hadn’t noticed the man.

“We’re on our way to a family reunion. I know they would really like to meet you.”

“We use your books in our home Bible study,” my friend’s uncle spoke up. “You’ve got some great insights.”

“If only you knew,” I said to myself. I had committed a common sin of the unforgiving. I had cast a vote without knowing the story.

To forgive someone is to admit our limitations. We’ve been given only one piece of life’s jigsaw puzzle. Only God has the cover of the box. To forgive someone is to display reverence. Forgiveness is not saying the one who hurt you was right. Forgiveness is stating that God is fair and he will do what is right.

After all, don’t we have enough things to do without trying to do God’s work too?

Today’s devotional is drawn from Max Lucado’s Cast of Characters.

 

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Men of the Bible – Achan

Achan

His name means: “Troublemaker”

His character: Achan’s greed for the spoils of war and his attempt to hide his sin led to a situation that endangered Israel’s relationship with God. By disregarding God’s command, he brought trouble and judgment on his own people. His sorrow: His disobedience resulted in the loss of many lives, including his own. His triumph: To have participated in the victory over Jericho. Key Scriptures: Joshua 7:1-8:2

A Look at the Man

Achan may not have been a bad man, at least to begin with. While living for many years in the desert, he may even have fed himself on dreams of what life would be like in the Promised Land, where he could build a life for his family. He may have rushed into Jericho fully intending to follow the Lord’s commands. But then came an opportunity to do otherwise. And that’s when his resolve faded.

Achan’s disobedience then produced a kind of foolishness in him; he attempted to hide what he had done, burying stolen goods beneath his tent. But he was hiding from the God who made him, from the same God who parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River, and from the God who had just caused the walls of a fortified city to crumble without a weapon being raised against it. Why was Achan foolish enough to think that God would find it hard to see through his little deception?

The truth is that it’s sin’s nature to hide. Consider your own experience. Isn’t it hard to admit your sins to others? Isn’t it difficult to admit them to yourself? Most of us have found ingenious ways to hide the ugliness of sin from ourselves and others, by rationalizing, excusing, and even forgetting things we’ve done wrong. But Achan’s story tells us that God is never fooled by such foolishness.

Simple obedience and the cleansing power of God’s grace are the best defense against sin. But when we fail to do the right thing, we should remind ourselves not to compound the problem by hiding what we’ve done. Instead, we can go directly to God, expressing our sorrow and asking his forgiveness, confident that he will give it.

Reflect On: Deuteronomy 6:1–3 Praise God: Because his commandments are meant to bless us, not to enslave us. Offer Thanks: That God has not hidden his commands from us. Confess: Any tendency to value your opinion about a course of action more than you value God’s. Ask God: To make you humble enough to realize that you do not always know what is best.

Today’s reading is a brief excerpt from Men of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Men in Scripture by Ann Spangler and Robert Wolgemuth (Zondervan). © 2010 by Ann Spangler. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Enjoy the complete book by purchasing your own copy at the Bible Gateway Store. The book’s title must be included when sharing the above content on social media.

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Castimonia Tuesday Night Trinity Baptist (CRCOC – Katy) Meeting CANCELLED 10-17-2017

Our temporary host church, Trinity Baptist will be closed  on Tuesday, October 17th so we are canceling the Castimonia Tuesday night meeting at this church. The meeting will resume the following Tuesday night at its regular time and location.

For an alternate meeting, please visit the Sugar Land location at the Vineyard Church.

Tuesday Nights
Time: 7:00PM – 8:30PM
Location: Vineyard Church of Sugar Land
Mosaic Room (Ring door bell and enter through FRONT door.  Go to the second floor)
5015 Grove West Boulevard
Stafford, TX  77477
Contact: Troy P. at 713.906.6658 or rphtroy@gmail.com

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Strong People …