How honest are you with yourself? It’s a tough question, isn’t it? Are you self-aware, able to see what you do clearly as well as understanding why you do it? Learning to be honest to God and ourselves is a big step in spiritual maturity, a key to personal freedom. I am a real supporter of AA as a pathway to sobriety. The 10th step addresses this issue, with the person seeking that freedom committing he will “take personal inventory and when wrong promptly admit it.”
In recent months I noticed that I was becoming more irritable and critical. Finally, I took time to prayerfully examine my life and realized that I had been repressing an unfocused anger. I took steps to address it, to think about it, and to ask God, the Holy Spirit, to work in me for a change. What freedom I found in the process.
Often when we are challenged about some choice or behavior our first response is to rationalize and excuse, pointing out why we are right. It is a pattern as old as Eden, where Adam told God that "it was the woman you gave me that gave me the fruit!" She, in turn, blamed the serpent, "it deceived me and I ate the fruit!"
Think of the various excuses you use to justify yourself. Some blame bad parents. Others point to a poor education. We might point out our genetic heritage, co-workers, traffic, our spouse … the list is long, isn't it? Many years ago, a wise teacher repeated a phrase that sticks in my mind. It was her definition of a self-justifying excuse - "a skin of a reason, stuffed full of lies!" With that little phrase, she pressed us to be responsible people.
If you want to be right with God, throw away the excuses; forget about convincing Him that 'the Devil made you do it.' Spiritual freedom and maturity begin with honesty – with ourselves, with others, and with God. John teaches us - "If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." (1 John 1:8-9, NLT)
We look at the mess we've created
with ill-informed, or selfish, or thoughtless choices
and we say,
"That's what I did. God help me!" -
the glorious truth is - He will.
In the book of Romans there is this passage that is packed with promise. Take a look.
"Now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:21-24, NIV)
The Law of Moses defined the standard we were to live up to in order to be acceptable to Him. In our human frailty, we all fail – miserably! Those failures are sin, and sin separates us from God. But God… yes, He stepped in to provide a way home, a path to maturity. The situation is not hopeless, because what I could not do for myself- get right with God - has been done for me by Christ Jesus.
When we get ‘honest to God,’ when we turn to Him in faith accepting His invitation to live in grace, we are justified! No excuses are needed. God declares our sins forgiven and erases the debt and guilt. Yes, as the old phrase says, I am new; “just as if I'd” never sinned!
Are you wallowing in guilt?
Are you still trying to excuse the things you have done that you know are wrong, sinful in the eyes of God and others?
Throw away the excuses and choose to humbly acknowledge the truth. THEN, accept the gift of forgiveness and renewal. We can become ‘new creations’ through Christ’s death and Resurrection, empowered to please God by the Spirit Who lives in us.
It is the way to real and lasting change, the only way to become genuinely holy, and therefore, pleasing to God.
Take this Word with you today. Meditate on it for a few moments.
"Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners." (Romans 5:1-6, NLT)
Lord God, lead us to freedom, to maturity, to lives of beauty through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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