Apologetics

You Cannot Heal What You Conceal

by Jeff Drinnan
09/10/20
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You cannot heal when you conceal.

Covering up wrong doing, sin results in your eventual downfall. King David sinned, suffered, but when he confessed his sin he was healed. Jesus confronted sin in order to heal.

Bad behavior, besetting sin, which leads to mental and physical pain, is a choice, a bad one. In Proverbs, God speaks of the consequences of choices we make: "We can make our own plans, ut the Lord gives the right answer. People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines our motives. Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed." -Proverbs 16: 1-3.

Just a few verses back, at the end of Proverbs 15, God amonishes: "If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding." -verses 31 and 32.

For awhile, King David was full of schemes to coverup his sin of adultery and other sins that conpounded sin as a result of his original sin. Oh what a dangled web we weave when we decieve! David got caught in the web of sin and suffered angish and physical pain. But finally the King comes clean! He writes in Psalm 32: "Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, 'I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.' And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone." -Psalm 32: 1-5

In recent history, the Catholic church was plagued with child abuse by priests. Instead of holding the clergy accountable for their widespread sin, the church transferred the abusive priests to other parishes. All the way up to the top, the church covered up this egregious sin, the abuse of a holy charge. In "Letter To A Suffering Church ", Bishop Robert Barron exploses the corruption, makes a plea to clean up the church, and offers ways to prevent problems in the future. Rather than cover up the sin or just give up on the church as a lost cause, the bishop argues to admit guilt and to restore the church to its mission to minister the gospel.

Since the 1st century, there have been problems in the church, which from time to time has gotten out of sync with God. We all need to be vigilant to keep the church in line with God's Word and ways through right doctrine and behavior.

"He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." -Proverbs 28:13