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You Don't Say!

For some, what they don't say isn't true. I've bumped into numerous people who are very hesitant to speak about weight for example or their age. By keeping these things secret they can maintain not just the ignorance of their friends and family members about those facts but they can deny them even to themselves.

This is the opposite of the “name it and claim it” proposition by which you can come into possession of something by speaking as if you already have it. But even people who don't believe that you can simply name something in order to make it their own play this other game with themselves. They believe that by not admitting to something, it’s not true.

It is not my intention to criticize this habit or the people who engage in it because I can think of aspects of my personal life I prefer to keep private. No doubt, in some part, I am motivated by this very desire to control something by not speaking of it out loud to others or even to myself. I remember a time when I intended to lose about 20 pounds; I preferred not to speak of my actual weight because it didn’t fit with the reality I was trying to attain.

Ultimately, this is not hugely significant at this level, but look at the danger of this habit in our spiritual life. God calls us to confess our sin for forgiveness because when we confess something we own it and until we confess it we have the tendency to separate ourselves from it. By establishing a habit of not confessing our sin, we run the risk of deluding ourselves; coming to the point of thinking we have no sin. We need to confess it, to call it what it is, before we can be free of it.

Until we have recognized our moral weaknesses and failures and confessed them to God, we remain locked in the grip of a manufactured reality, which is not reality at all. 1John 1:8 tells us: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Ironically, few people will make this kind of general statement about their moral condition. We all know we fall short of our own standards and social norms, not to mention God’s law. While most will readily admit to being less than perfect (read sinful) few will be willing or even able to identify specifics.

This refusal to confess the thoughts, words and actions which give us the selfish advantage, harm others we are called to help and serve, and insult God’s grace leads to a hardness of heart which is almost impossible to penetrate. Even love struggles to enter there, for undeserved love is received as either a prerogative or confirmation that the other holds us as highly as we hold ourselves. This compounds the problem, grieves and quenches the Spirit, and binds us to the stake of moral pride.

If we want to deal with the negative things in our lives, we have to be prepared to call them what they are. Call them sin. Confess them to God. As you do that you are confessing them to yourself. When you own it, you can take possession of the forgiveness God offers regarding that sin. Divine forgiveness is promised up front. God can do that because the price for the sin has already been paid. Satisfaction has already been attained, through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in our place.

Think about the things that harm yourself and harm others, things that are an insult to God. Then own those things, confess them to be what God knows they are and receive the forgiveness He offers you today through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ron Hughes
© August 2007