Inner Mercy & Prosperity: Being Clean and Free on the Inside
How do you gauge how you are really doing? Do you take stock of your recent accomplishments or the lack thereof?
Do you look at your thoughts and behaviors and consider whether you have been doing or thinking many wrong things lately? Or do you put a meter to your emotions to see if you are feeling happy, sad, anxious or at peace? It can be difficult to determine how you are doing.
A good monitor is with how honest you are being. Are you taking the time to be honest with yourself and honest with God? If you are, you will constantly be aware of your shortcomings in action, thought and attitude. This awareness can be overwhelming if you don’t have a fresh and renewed relationship with Jesus. He is our only hope – the only payment sufficient for our sinfulness. When we try to live independently – apart from conscious reliance on Jesus’ life, death and resurrected life for us – we are forced to deny our sinfulness, to hide it or be crushed by it. There is no way out from under the weight and power of sin, except interactive life with Christ.
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them find mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13) When we hide our sin from ourselves, God and/or others we always begin to experience the consequences. When we pretend we are OK and doing just fine, or when we blame others, or when we condemn ourselves – isolation and alienation begins to set in. We might be in church, reading the Bible or praying, but we will be alienated from God because we will be hiding and pretending. We might be with many people, yet we will be isolated and alone inside because we will be withholding our true selves in shame. And, we may be taking time to reflect and consider our lives, but we won’t be able to get in touch with ourselves because we don’t want to face how we really feel due to the unaddressed/unresolved sin that lurks deep inside us.
We do not have to live with the constant results of unresolved sin. We don’t have to hide, or rationalize or blame. We can learn to be still – and know God – if we can learn to “breathe” in God’s presence. We must exhale – confess (admit) to God where we are in heart and in deed, willing to address the relational consequences of where we have gone astray. And we must inhale – receive His forgiveness and fresh life. God has provided a way out from under sin. He leads us out of the dark place into a place of honesty. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
We must remember, however, that our sin affects our relationships – it’s never just about us. The shame it causes deep inside always leads us to withhold ourselves to some degree. That is why we very often need to include others in the process of our confession, and be willing to make necessary restitution. We must “Confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that we may be healed.” (James 5:16) This may sound very scary – and distant from your regular practice, but this is God’s grace-way out from the ravages of sin in your life. This is the way into mercy and prosperity in your inner being.
Wanting to be Open with you,
Pastor Tom
tgriffith@rolcboston.org
