Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Confession


Ezra 10:10-11             Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful; you have married foreign women, adding to Israel’s guilt. Now make confession to the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives.


What is needed is an admission of guilt. As a nation and as individuals we need confession to God. Confession requires that we admit that our words or actions or thoughts have been wrong. This requires we admit that a standard exists to which we are accountable. Underlying this is a true belief that God exists and has revealed his expectations for us. Having agreed to these words then we are accountable to Him and susceptible to the consequences of our actions and our lack of confession.

Actions have consequences. The result of our actions may bring no immediate result. It may take time for consequences to arise. But God has said that no sin will go unpunished. Further and further away from God we move when we do not admit that we are falling away from His Word.

The problems in our lives are many times self-created. We are not always the victims of someone else’s sin, violence, bad behavior or actions. Although we would like to believe that bad things happen to us only because of someone else’s negligence or malice, this is not always the case. Our culture teaches us to look for someone else to blame when bad things happen. We believe this teaching long enough so that now we never look at ourselves. We are never wrong.

Fault finding is easier than admitting our guilt. Adam and Eve blamed each other for the sin they committed. It is no different today. Like them, we no longer go to God to admit we were wrong. We go to him to blame others and complain about life’s unfairness. Confession is never on our mind.

If more of us would admit our guilt and confess our sins to God, then maybe He will forgive us. Yes, Jesus died for our sins and our punishment has been taken by Him. But we continue to sin and to ignore the great salvation that he offers. Trouble continues to follow us because confession is the last thing on our minds and so is God.

Ministry Scenes

Have The Homeless Become Invisible?