the basic message # E154
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
I often get email from people who think I’m a hard-hearted, judgmental person. I am. In fact, I have plenty of flaws beside those two. I’ve never been to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, but I’m told that the recovery process can only begin after the alcoholic admits he has a problem. The Catholic church has the rite of confession within their denomination. They believe that confessing sins is important in the process of personal cleansing before God. I agree, but the passage above tells me that I can confess my sins to other believers and not just to a religious leader. May I?
Ephesians 4:31-32
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
I’m often bitter, although the Holy Spirit has helped me with rage and anger. While that seems like great progress, I can tell you from experience that we can be bitter, yet appear very relaxed and in control. Bitter about what? Old grudges and hurts, something that someone said or did that we took as a personal attack. I’m the middle child of 3, and I suffer from the “middle kid syndrome”. I think my older brother got the goodies for being first born, then I think my younger brother got the second round of goodies for being the baby. There was no round of goodies between the first and second round. And so, at the age of 47 I still pout and whine about what I lost in my childhood. That is an insult to God, since he provided me with an adult life of higher quality than either of my brothers. My older brother is on wife #3, my younger brother didn’t marry until late in life, thereby missing the opportunity to have children. I am blessed with the same wife of 25 years, two great children, and a good life. I didn’t say I have a perfect life, but I have no worthwhile complaints. Back to confessing:
I tend to be slanderous, because that follows my judgmental and critical spirit. Although I would deny it, I tend to suffer from the “my way or the highway” approach to life in general. I usually have a well thought-out plan for just about everything, whether at home or at work. I’m writing this at 2 am on a weeknight since I woke up from a bad dream and started thinking about my employees and the struggles I have with them. They aren’t bad people, in fact, they’re pretty good people. They just don’t see our roles at work like I do. I might as well come to grips with the fact that they never will. I’ve been called a perfectionist, and I plead guilty as charged. I used to think that was a good quality to possess, but given the chance, I’d happily give it up. Although I think I’m basically a kind and compassionate person, I struggle with forgiving others. Example: I’ve noticed that I seem to be the only vehicle on the road driving the speed limit. I’ve tried to stop counting the few cars that I pass, since it was too few in number. What’s the big deal? I figure that Christians should be the first people to obey the law. Speed limits are the law, and if 95% of the cars are passing me, and we’re a “Christian nation”, then that means a bunch of Christians are law-breakers. There I go again, being judgmental.
I think you get the picture. I struggle each day with sins of anger, self-righteousness and a critical nature. None of these have any place in the life of a Christian. Does that mean that every Christian should be free of all of these flaws? Nope, but every Christian should be in prayerful communion with God in asking for his help in eliminating them.