Deal with it now

And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26-27)

Anger is an outward expression of internal conflict - conflict caused when we allow an offense to be internalized. Something someone does, an event that happens, prompts that internal response of heart, mind, and emotions. The offense happens - a tiny seed of resentment, bitterness, and anger is planted. That seed doesn't have to take root, though. If it is allowed to 'germinate' and take root, anger is an outflow of that internalization of the offense. Hebrews 12:15 reminds us that we are not to allow any root of bitterness to take root as it will defile not only us, but others, as well.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is take the offense to God and talk it out with him. We often need to just speak about it with someone, so who better than God himself? Bring that offense and all those ugly feelings to him, ridding yourself of the very seed that could take root if allowed to fester. We often do just the opposite - we take the offense to another, 'gossiping' about it with them, and what does that do? It almost always allows the offense to grow bigger in your eyes and your heart. When we are honest in our disclosure of the offense to God first, we find we don't need to take it to others. It gets settled right there.

We all have times when it is natural to be angry because of the things that happened. We never have a right to take that offense to the point of us sinning by returning it with vengeance, though. Remember, it is no longer you that lives, but Christ in you (Galatians 2:20). We live a different life, demanding different responses that we might have had at one time to the offense. If the seed never gets to take root, we won't feel like we have to justify ourselves or strike out to return tit-for-tat. If we want to live above or free of anger, we put the offense at the foot of the cross and we work it out with Jesus, not others.

God will do a work in our heart FIRST - often long before he does the work in the heart of the one that offended us. That may not seem "FAIR" to some, but it could just be God's plan to deal with the root of sin in another's life through the testimony they see within our lives. Just sayin!

Shall we make our nation great again?

Goodness makes a nation great, but sin is a shame to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)

It is GOODNESS that makes a nation great again, not a man, a political party, or an office. It is the people who set their hearts right with Jesus, welcoming him into their lives, and living in such a manner so as to please God who make it great. No one in the past, nor in the future, whoever holds office is capable of filling hearts with goodness - the very ingredient that makes a country 'great'. 

God changes the heart of a man or woman who welcomes him into their lives, giving him authority to rule and reign in place of their own pride or selfish will. Is it possible for other things or people to change a man's heart in the same way? I don't think it is, but it is possible to change a person's heart by leading someone into the pathway of sin simply with the use of misleading untruths. 

This is why it is so important for us to observe God's actions, see what responses his Son had while here on this earth, and allow his Word to correct any misleading 'untruths' that may have found their way into our hearts. Jesus didn't need to call attention to himself - those who desired truth came to him. Jesus didn't exclude those who were different - he welcomed them openly. Jesus didn't 'cover-up' bad behavior - he behaved well because he reflected the heart of his Father at all times.

The nation who wishes to be great again needs to seek God first. Remember, if his people, who are called by his name, humble themselves and prayerfully confessing their sins, turning from all manner of evil, God will restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14) Very specific steps there - humble oneself, prayerfully confess, turn away (repent) from sin, and seek God with all your heart. If we want a 'great nation' again, it isn't the man in office that will make it great - it is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings in your heart thata will! Just sayin!

Driven by guilt

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. (Psalm 51:1-4)

How is it that we don't always make a beeline to God when we sin? There are excuses uttered - thinking we can somehow justify our offense as though it were impossible for us to have resisted the temptation. We find ourselves turning this way or that, in hopes of not encountering God over the issue, but find ourselves feeling the guilt 'prick' at us like thorns on a rosebush. I don't think we intended to give into the temptation, and we don't really think the excuses or 'running' will keep us away from dealing with the sin, but we respond this way for some inexplicable reason. Guilt is that 'pin prick' in our conscience that should cause us to run TOWARD restoration, not AWAY from it!

David never said he was sinless - in fact, he recognized his sin and that also made him realize his need for confession, repentance, and restoration. Confession is the admission of guilt - repentance is the action one takes to turn away from the actions of sin. Put together, we find ourselves in a place where restoration can actually happen. David showed us that when we 'do wrong', we need to be quick to admit it. That admission may be to God alone, or it could be we need to go to another to admit our 'wrongdoing' to them (because they were affected by our wrongdoing). There is something quite humbling in admitting we were wrong, isn't there? Could it be that repentance actually begins when we put down our pride and humble ourselves enough to seek forgiveness?

There are times when our sin involves us and God - others haven't been involved. We find ourselves taking actions - thinking about things in a way that we shouldn't - all without involving another in those actions or thoughts. Be humble enough to admit your sinfulness the first time you feel the 'pinprick' of guilt and you will save yourself a whole lot of 'guilt-ridden anxiety' over the matter at hand! There are no greater words we can utter than "have mercy on me". There is no better place to find healing for our sin-sick hearts and minds than at the feet of Jesus. Guilt might drive us there, but grace helps us get up again and move beyond the guilt. Just sayin!

Trying to do life alone?

Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. (James 1:13-15)

Did you realize that sin actually grows in the dark? That is why it is so wrong for us to hide our sin - in the dark it has a greater chance of growing. We lust and that leads to looking - looking leads to action - trying to stop leads to us thinking about that sin time and time again. It is a cyclical thing. Shame makes us want to hide our sin - but that is the worst thing we can do when we sin. Don't conceal your sin - confess it. Sin needs to be brought into the light in order to be free from it. "You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them." (Proverbs 28:13) Confessing your sins to God brings forgiveness and cleansing - healing comes when we confess our sins in honesty to others. We are not meant to live this Christian walk alone - because we cannot fight the appeal of sin on our own. We need the accountability that comes when we 'partner together' to overcome sin in our lives.

We deal with this 'internal' temptation to given into sin in community with others who know how to walk close to Jesus. We find we are not fighting alone - we have others fighting along with us. As we 'fight together' we are sending the enemy into flight in large ways. Emotional healing comes when we stop hiding our sin and begin to realize we have help from others who walk with us while we are fighting our sin. Sin is a killer unless we deal with it - hiding it doesn't deal with it - it just attempts to cover it up. The peace we crave comes when we stop concealing our sin. We are only as strong over our sin as we are honest about our sin. That scares a whole bunch of us, doesn't it? Honesty about what we struggle with the most is tough business, but as long as we conceal our sin we allow it to grow - to continue to entice us from within.

Some of us are intent about living free of our sin - some of us are 'kind of intent' - when we partner with one who is more intent than we are, we find our level of accountability is brought to a new level. We begin to set new limits on our temptation - we stop hiding that sin and bring it into the light. A pastor friend once told me we will always seek to hide until we are surrounded by others who don't hide. It is a lot easier to stop hiding when we begin to allow others to see our 'real' life and who live 'real' lives themselves. If we have a tendency to always hide our sin, we may be hanging around with a group of others who also are hiding their sin. Remember, when we are with someone who craves righteousness, we find we are freer to crave the same things.

Sin needs not only forgiveness - it needs healing. Sin's forgiveness comes through Christ - at the foot of the cross. Sin's healing comes in community together - as we partner together with others who crave righteousness (freedom from sin). Eventually the appeal of sin will become less and less in our lives - because the appeal of righteousness will be greater and greater. God guides our steps toward confession, but he also guides our steps toward healing. Don't try to do life alone - it isn't going to end well. Just sayin!