Don't Avoid, Confess!
Genesis 3:9-10 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" (10) And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."
I've seen the pattern again and again. Sin in someone's life leads to them "hiding" from God. Some hide from God by avoiding church, making excuses about not feeling comfortable, not liking something about it, or any other number of excuses. They avoid other Christians as well.
The avoidance is because they know their sinning and they don't want to be confronted concerning it. Even being around other Christians makes them feel guilty because they know that they are doing wrong.
So they avoid, they hide, they make excuses, they try to cover up the sin like Adam and Eve covered their bodies with fig leaves.
King David fit this pattern. He had sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba, then tried to cover it up. After getting Bathsheba pregnant, he then brought her husband home from the battlefield in an attempt to cover up his sin so that her husband would believe that the child was his own. But the man, Uriah, wouldn't allow himself the pleasure of being with his wife while his fellow soldiers were in battle.
So David tried another way to cover up his sin. He had Uriah killed by having him placed at the head of the battle and the ordering the other soldiers to retreat.
He thought that he had covered his tracks, he thought that he had hidden his sin.
But he hadn't. Not from God.
And even while he thought that he had covered up his sin, inside he was in turmoil. The sin which he was hiding was eating him up on the inside.
When he is finally confronted with the sin and confesses his sin, the change is dramatic. No longer is he in angst over his sin, no longer is it eating him up inside. Now, he has peace. He is renewed. He is forgiven. In response, he writes Psalm 51.
The Apostle John writes in 1 John 1:8-9 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If there is sin in your life, don't avoid the church, don't avoid other Christians, rather take the opportunity to join with other sinners in confessing your sin, in church or privately to your pastor, so that you too can hear the words that give comfort. "Your sins are forgiven."
I've seen the pattern again and again. Sin in someone's life leads to them "hiding" from God. Some hide from God by avoiding church, making excuses about not feeling comfortable, not liking something about it, or any other number of excuses. They avoid other Christians as well.
The avoidance is because they know their sinning and they don't want to be confronted concerning it. Even being around other Christians makes them feel guilty because they know that they are doing wrong.
So they avoid, they hide, they make excuses, they try to cover up the sin like Adam and Eve covered their bodies with fig leaves.
King David fit this pattern. He had sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba, then tried to cover it up. After getting Bathsheba pregnant, he then brought her husband home from the battlefield in an attempt to cover up his sin so that her husband would believe that the child was his own. But the man, Uriah, wouldn't allow himself the pleasure of being with his wife while his fellow soldiers were in battle.
So David tried another way to cover up his sin. He had Uriah killed by having him placed at the head of the battle and the ordering the other soldiers to retreat.
He thought that he had covered his tracks, he thought that he had hidden his sin.
But he hadn't. Not from God.
And even while he thought that he had covered up his sin, inside he was in turmoil. The sin which he was hiding was eating him up on the inside.
When he is finally confronted with the sin and confesses his sin, the change is dramatic. No longer is he in angst over his sin, no longer is it eating him up inside. Now, he has peace. He is renewed. He is forgiven. In response, he writes Psalm 51.
The Apostle John writes in 1 John 1:8-9 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If there is sin in your life, don't avoid the church, don't avoid other Christians, rather take the opportunity to join with other sinners in confessing your sin, in church or privately to your pastor, so that you too can hear the words that give comfort. "Your sins are forgiven."
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