You're grounded

If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. (I John 1:8-9 TLB)

You've probably heard the term, "confession is good for the soul", right? If not, let me assure you, it is! Confession is a way of simply acknowledging something exists - we don't cover it up even if we don't fully understand it. I can acknowledge gravity exists without having to fully understand it because I see and feel the effects of gravity. It is also quite possible for me to acknowledge sin exists in my life because I see and feel sin's effect. I can equally acknowledge there is such a thing as forgiveness and grace because I have experienced their tremendous release! 

We don't have to figure out the "root" of our problems all on our own - we know they exist because we can feel their existence in our lives. We can rely upon the goodness of God to show us how to be free of these things that give us constant struggle, even if we don't fully understand why they do! We acknowledge we have a problem - a sin problem. This is where all "learning" and "trust" begins - in the acknowledgement of something. When I acknowledge there is a force holding me firmly on this ground I stand upon, I am open to learn about this force of gravity and I have already begun to trust it exists, and it exerts a force I don't see, but know is there.

Sin's force in our lives is real - we don't have to fully see a sinful deed displayed in our lives to acknowledge the "force" of sin's pull exists. Grace's force is far greater than sin's pull, though. To acknowledge there are two opposing forces at work in us is sometimes the best place to start. Why? In acknowledging we feel each force at work, we begin to choose which one we will trust more to exert the greatest 'pull'. Sometimes we choose well - trusting more in grace to pull on the strings of our heart than sin does. At others, we know both are pulling, but we "give into" the pull that brings the thing we believe will immediately satisfy some desire we have. That isn't always the right choice, though!

Grace grows the more I acknowledge it is exerting power in my life. Any power in our lives grows stronger the more we trust it to be operational. I didn't understand gravity when I was a wee child learning to walk, but I felt its force. I didn't even realize this power existed when I learned to ride a bike, but it did. I didn't know it existed when I climbed trees and fell from branches, but it did. As I grew more and more familiar with the "effects" of gravity, pulling me back to ground level, the more I began to understand the power it exerted over my life. 

Sin has a power - I can trust it to be the more dominant of powers in my life, or I can begin to trust grace will exert a power which calls me back "grounded level" again each time I need it. The choice is in which power I will place my trust. I choose to be "well-grounded", not just grounded. How about you? Just askin!

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