Christian Living
We are to honor God. Part of this honoring of God is how we honor His people. When we see a brother or sister in shame or sin, do we preserve their honor as a son or daughter of God, thus not broadcasting their sin to everyone? Or do we share their sin and shame with those in the know, causing them even more embarrassment and shame?
When we as children of God see a brother or sister in sin, we must confront that person of their sin. It’s not easy to do, but we gotta do it, in love, deep love. But if that person repents, then we must show them honor by shutting our mouths about their sin forever, as God Himself casts our own sins away forever. Or what if someone is struggling with sin? Do we come along side of them and secretly intercess for them in prayer, or do we give hints or even outright share with others, that person’s sin? Do we enjoy gossiping about another’s sins? If so, then we have a big problem. Not an exterior problem, but an interior one. Or worse, and this is the worst, do we secretly find ourselves delighting that a person’s sin is found out or that they are put to shame. These are all difficult and ugly questions, but there are times when we do find this kind of ugliness in us. Remember, we can put on all the false pretenses about ourselves we want to the outside world, but God does not look at our exterior lives, but rather He focuses on our interior lives. Our states of heart.
If you are a Christian and if you feel condemned by God when you are convicted of the sins mentioned above, know that He is not condemning you, but He is certainly convicting you hard, by treating you as His son or daughter. The best thing you can do is be real with God, because He will accept your honesty about yourself before Him, because we as children of God have all been here before Him in one form or another. It’s tough, but it’s hardcore reality, even amongst us children of God.
This is one of the real processes of the Christian life, if we are true Christians. When going through this process of having our own sin come and smack us right in the mouth, God may very well be taking us right back to His cross. Our redemption through Christ is a one-time happening, but God never wants us to forget that through this event, we have our salvation and we are reconciled back to Himself. When feeling condemned or convicted, God may just be trying to drive us back to the cross. It’s here that we come to realize if we haven’t before, that it should have been us up there on that cross for our sins, not Jesus. The cross is where we come to realize who we truly are, who we are not, and where we presently are at in our relationship with God. It’s by revisiting the cross that we remember that we were once in need of redemption, and this is the only place where Jesus gives it. He gives it at the cross and nowhere else.
There are many ugly things about ourselves that God has to turn His searchlight on for us to come to realize. Things we had no idea about that exist in us. It’s ugly and horrific, but take heart, if we are willing to be real with God about what He is revealing to us about ourselves, then know that God is revealing our hearts to us for one reason and one reason only, to bring us to repentance and to know of His goodness and grace. Also, once this search is done, we are left completely desolate of any self-righteousness or of being judgmental and it’s here, in the midst of some of our most severe pains as a Christian, that God begins to pour in His own holiness, righteousness and His very Life into us. Thus we are being made “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3, NKJ), and to our amazement, those ugly attitudes that were in us towards our brother’s and sister’s sins and shame, are no longer anywhere to be found. Christianity is only for those people who are willing to humble themselves before God and who allow God to make them well. Christianity is only for those who are brought to tears over their sin.
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