Proverbs 28: 13
After a hailstorm littered her yard and flower beds with uncountable leaves, my neighbor was in a predicament. Her realtor would take pictures in just a few days to help sell her house, and now her carefully prepared landscaping was ruined.
Since it was too difficult to remove every single leaf from her extensive set of beds, my neighbor came up with a clever plan to quickly address the situation: She spread a thin layer of mulch over every bed, covering up the leaves and giving a better outward appearance.
I applaud her creativity; there is no harm in beautifying the beds, and those leaves will eventually become mulch themselves. But it caused me to compare how we tend to cover up our sin with a thin layer of goodness.
In fact, we become comfortable with our particular flavors of sin. When teaching classes, my frequent self-analyzing theme is how comfortable I am with my sin, and how uncomfortable I am with yours. But this is not right. Proverbs 28:13 reads:
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
I find that I must pray for God to show me my sins more clearly. What I may consider a habit or preference is sin in God's view.
Looking soberly at ourselves, we must confess and renounce our sin, and then rid ourselves of it. Certainly, sin comes back in one form or the other; it is the unfortunate human condition. But we return to God to continually be washed and restored. Hopefully through that rinse and repeat cycle, we begin to be sanctified - improved, perfected - rather than remaining comfortable with our sins, concealing them with a thin layer of goodness.
Please take a break to listen to my interview on the Southern Christian Writer's Guild podcast called "Pursue Your Passion," You can find it at https://scwguild.com/2023/05/11/pursue-your-passion-cecil-taylor/ . I talk about the origin of Cecil Taylor Ministries as well as my two award-winning books, "The Next Thing: A Christian Model for Dealing with Crisis in Personal Life" and "Live Like You're Loved: Steps to Living in the Freedom and Immediacy of God's Love."
Comentarios