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!”
Psalm
32:1-2 (NLT)
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.
