Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Change the Storyline
By Carolyn Hulliberger

“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!”

I have a Confession to make.

Do I have your attention? As any writer of crime shows or soap operas knows, the Confession is powerful. The storyline changes once the Confession happens. 

Jesus knows it, too. During the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, Jesus instructs His followers how to pray. Very specifically, His example of speaking to God includes a request for forgiveness of our debts/sins. 

This is a part of prayer that can be hard. I don’t like to discuss my daily (hourly!) shortcomings. In prayer, so often I want to accentuate the positive and ask for my requests.  Here’s the problem…

When I neglect to confess my sin, I diminish the power of God’s grace in my life. 

Without seeing my sin and the darkness of my human condition, I ignore the beauty that is the relationship with my Savior. Without professing my issues to the God who adores me, I gloss over the call to turn to Him in dependency and need. Without the daily realization that I am a ragamuffin human completely undeserving of the love and attention of the God of the universe, I begin to believe that I can do this Christian life on my own.

A paraphrase of 1 John 1:8-9 puts it this way:  “If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins - - make a clean breast of them - - he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.” (The Message)

Confession is pivotal. With Confession, God is able to clean out the wounds we have from our own sins, and those others created. When we confess our fears and failures and shortcomings, we become vulnerable and teachable. When that happens, God can change our storyline.

Do you have a Confession to make?

GOING DEEPER:
1.  Spend time in thoughtful confession with God today.

FURTHER READING:

Along with caring for her family, Carolyn works as an insurance representative, serves in Oakwood Church’s Student Ministries with an awesome group of junior high girls, and is the treasurer for Women’s Ministries.