Hidden Sins

To my fb and blog friends, I am starting a small series based on Prov. 28:13.  This has been a difficult series to write, I pray you will give me mercy and grace as you read it.  

I have struggled over this series for quite some time.  Along with being very sick physically and sleepless nights I came to the decision to quit my fb/blog postings all together so I could have peace.

The night that I made that decision I receive a text from a friend within the hour of that decision telling me how much they enjoy my post and how it challenges them in truth.    They appreciated my boldness in speaking the truth.

I knew at that moment I could not quit.  I have to fight the fight of faith and speak what was given to me in spite of rejection and offense.   I pray that what I do write will cause, at least one, to ask the Holy Spirit to search their heart for anything that could cause separation in their relationship to God.   If that means they are upset with me…..it will be worth pulling just one out of the fire.

I write this only to remind those who ‘hate’ my post that it is not easy for me either.   I just get to hear it first and get on my face to repent and seek to keep my heart pure before I post it.

I do appreciate all of you who continue to love me and encourage me.  THANK YOU!

So with that said, ……..or with that” warning” of what’s to come….… J….. I will proceed with posting for now on this series on hidden sins.

“You can't whitewash your sins and get by with it;
you find mercy by admitting and leaving them”.   Prov. 28:13  MSG Bible

King Saul disobeyed God and when his actions were exposed by the prophet Samuel, his first reaction was self-preservation. 

“……I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.”            (I Sam. 15:30 NKJV)   He admitted that he had sinned, but his motives were only to save his own reputation and position of power.

God was so displeased by Saul’s desire to be admired by the multitudes that He took the kingdom of Israel from him.   Though Saul continued to reign for many years, he was not led or empowered by the Spirit of God, and spent the rest of his life in insecurity and misery.   How different his destiny could have been if he had only feared God more than man!

One may feel sorrow over sin, but that does NOT necessarily equate with repentance.  How do we tell the difference?    Here is the acid test:   those who are truly repentant will not care if they lose the respect of the entire world, as long as they make it right with God.    They are glad that their sin was exposed so that it might be dealt with.   Instead of scrambling to justify themselves, blame others, lie, cover it up or attack the accuser, they will throw themselves on the mercy of God.  

They will be thankful to the instrument that exposed their sin, even if it caused them pain and embarrassment.   They will also be willing to make restoration to those they have hurt.

At the other end of the spectrum, is a shift-the-blame mentality.   Talk shows, today, overflow with it and our schools teach it.   Sin is referred to at worst, as a “dysfunction” and at best as a “lifestyle of choice”.

Yet, even in this the Church is much to blame.   In our eagerness to “save” people, how many people have we “led to the Lord” without teaching them what it means to repent or the warfare they will face?

How many churches have we filled with people who have never shed one anguished tear over their sins, and are offended at the concept?

Have we forgotten to preach that our forgiveness, which we receive so lightly, was purchased by Jesus, through an agonizing and lonely death on the cross?

I ask God not so much that He will have mercy on us----for He has already shown us surpassing mercy in the sacrifice of His Son—but that we will have the ears to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to us and the courage to obey Him.   His abundant compassion is available to us fresh and new every day.

God is still offering rest for our souls.   May we humble ourselves in true repentance so we can receive it!