Most sin is like this... secret. We never want to admit what we did because we know it was wrong. (If we didn't think it was wrong, we wouldn't have as much trouble confessing it.) And, a lot of times, we forget that God already knows what we did, but, either way, we still have a hard time allowing ourselves to talk to God about it and accept His gift of forgiveness. Even further, it's very difficult to confess our sins to other people, even to our family or church. We aren't sure if we will get their forgiveness. Surely, the Devil tries to get inside our minds and convince us that we have the control to make our sins "right" by just ignoring them or making it seem like they never happened. God wants us to confess our sins to the people close to us so that we can pray for each other. He wants to heal our hearts and take away our shame. When we don't allow ourselves to accept God's forgiveness, we are filled with this shame and guilt. And it's really just not a great feeling to carry around. What if we didn't have to carry it around? What if we could always acknowledge the sins we commit, confess to each other and God, and accept His grace? Even though we still sin, we would be so much closer to God and much more able to forgive and love others. We would be more able to share the Word of God with those who don't know him and encourage other Christians in their pursuit of a life dedicated to Christ! Let's not be five-year-old Indi and blame our sins on two-year-old Sami... Let's live an honest life, close to Christ and enveloped in His love!
UPDATE: I'm much nicer to Sami now! ;)
(I apologize that this is so late!)
A lot of the time it is easier to see the sin that other people do then to see our own sin and admitting our sin is so hard to do because we don't want people to think badly of us. But the truth is that everyone sins and to God all sin is equal and God already knows the sins we have committed. As Christians when someone comes to us with a sin they have been struggling with me need to try to be understanding and forgiving like God has called us to be. I think one of the main reasons people have a hard time admitting sin is because of the fear of being judged.
ReplyDeleteYou are truly inspiring Indigo! I can relate, my sisters and I would fight about silly things when we were younger too and I definitely understand a little better now about how covering up sin just makes it all worse and confessing to God and accepting His forgiveness is an amazing way to bring us closer to God :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, Hannah! We definitely care about what others think and try not to show our weaknesses. But when we finally do, God's strength has an ever greater opportunity to shine through us! So awesome!
ReplyDeleteAnd, Lindsey, thank you! Sisters are the best, and its a good thing we grow up and learn about God's forgiveness! :)
ReplyDeleteThat was a great example (one I think all of us with siblings can relate to)! It is hard to confess our mistakes. We think that if we can just forget it ever happened, it's good enough. Of course, I was never mean to Bree ;)
ReplyDeletepoor little sami!! although I'm completely guilty of that too haha
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