I live with five other people, intimately. Much can be learned about human flaws through home observation. Each separate family is uniquely capable of shaping its members through divine appointment.
What God has brought together, let man not separate. If we want to reach our highest potential in Christ, we'd do well to spend time with our families. It's therapy for free.
As we've prayed together more and more, I've noticed something important. To be humble is not natural. No one wants to acknowledge personal sin before God and man. We can pray very important things easily, but when it comes to a uniquely personal sin we're struggling with, we remain mum. Or we only mention it in private, before God.
I'm discovering there's a reason the Bible says to confess our sins to each other. I never thought about it much before now, but this is huge.
James 5:16
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
At any given time each person has a long-standing sin the Holy Spirit is working to eradicate--be it anger, ingratitude, idleness, harshness, etc. In our haughtiness, when we ignore the Holy Spirit, the sin persists for a long time. It's the thing we struggle with the most. It's the thing we're least likely to admit to anyone. But as sins go, it isn't necessarily something jaw-dropping, like adultery.
It's our own Achilles Heal, if you will. It doesn't fit with the image we want to present. At times we fail to see ourselves as we really are, because we're so caught up in our image of ourselves. We know this Achilles Heal makes us an impostor.
And who wants to be seen as an impostor?
We deceive ourselves into thinking we can take care of it. We try different things with wavering motivation, but always, we fail to eradicate it.
The Humility of God
Noticing this aspect of human nature, I had a discussion with my children about the humility of God. He came to us a helpless baby, though he was God. He let them nail him to a tree, though he was God. He died a slow, agonizing death, though he was God.
His example for us screams this word: Humility
After speaking with them about Jesus humbling himself, I explained how hard it is for us to humble ourselves and admit sin. Heads nodded in response. They get this.
But if we love God, if we want to be his disciple, we must do this. We must choose humility as Jesus did...go low before our loved ones. Reveal who we really are, so God can make us new.
Peter's been struggling mightily and mumbling prayers begrudgingly lately. He really listened to my words. And then...he said it. Quickly, before he lost his nerve.
Dear God, Help me with my anger.
Behold, He makes all things new. Hallelujah!
4 comments:
I want you to know how much you bless me with your honest portrayal of your struggles with your son. I have many of the same ones with one of mine. ADHD, ODD, Asperger's, etc. You help me to remember to take it all to God and trust Him to handle things. God bless you and your family!
This is so true, I have to say I have only gotten victory in situations after confessing that it is a struggle for me. Humility is tricky because we so want to appear to have it all together. I get so discouraged when people think I am not doing a good job or my mistakes show. Just this morning I was humbled big time and saw how much I really do care about what people think. I put up my post at midnight and I was groggy and tiered. I accidentally posted the one I had not done corrections on. When I got to my computer and looked at the post I was horrified by ALL those mistakes. There were about 20 comments of people that I want to think I am great (smile). This was REALLY humbling I have never been good at editing or grammar. I tend to have to read my post about 6 times and there are STILL lots of mistakes. I prayed and told God, "You know this is such a difficult week for me why did this happen? now I just feel worse." I do know it showed me I care about what people think a little more that I would care to admit. I also struggle with anger and the best cure for my anger has been confessions. Speaking out loud, that I was in sin and asking for forgiveness has helped me to change. So here is my confession, I am prideful, even though I pretend I do not care about what a struggle grammar is for me :) I read your perfect elegant word and think, why can I not do that? Sometimes writing one sentence is a challenge for me. Then I feel the sweet whisper of the Lord saying, you have other gifts. You are a friend that encourages and people will over look your mistake because of your love :) SO this comment is full of mistakes but I know you will hear my heart, one of LOVE.
Dear Anonymous, Thank you so much for commenting! It's hard to talk about my child's struggles, because I know so many people are quick to judge. They couldn't possibly understand the disorders without firsthand experience, so they blame the parenting. This is understandable and common, but it makes it hard to put my struggles out there. So thank you. I know that at least one reader understands. Bless you!
And Tesha, I know this was hard for you to write, but it made me smile. You blog circles around me girlfriend! LOL And for what's it worth, every writer edits far longer than they write. I still find mistakes after I've hit publish, and have to keep going back in to fix them. You have a very beautiful writing "voice", and any mistakes you find don't matter to your readers. Believe me.
Love to you both!
Amen! Yes, confess our sins to one another. No wonder my children don't want to fess up.... I don't want to either when I'm honet. But I do want to imitate Him, though...
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