A spacious place

IT’S ONE THING to recognize your faults and failures.

Yes, confess your sins, but don’t stop there. Please don’t.

You see what happens?

I acknowledge my error, and I stop.

And it sits there.

It smolders and festers right in front of me.

It’s an ugly wound. I can’t take my eyes off it. I can’t shake it.

And then the enemy comes to me and says, “You see? What a mess you’ve made. What a disaster. You’re no good at all. There’s no hope for you.”

He offers me my own perverse greed. I buy into it.

And my whole universe spins out of control around my shame.

The second worst thing to not confessing your sin is not letting it go.

So just let it go.

Take it all and stuff it into the wounded side of Christ.

Place his beautiful, glorious wounds at the center.

Gaze upon them.

Wounds on hands, feet, and body opened for your sake and mine.

Healed yet still visible to remind us.

To deliver us from certain death unto life eternal.

To give us peace with God.

So yes, you’ve made some big mistakes, but your sin is not you.

It is not who you are. Your sin does not define your existence.

It’s only a part of your history.

A history to be healed.

Your true identity, your true self is as a child of God.

His love for you is indestructible and eternal.

So yes, confess your sin.

Repent. Strive to change.

And hold tight to God moving forward in grace.

Once in a while, you’ll remember and feel the sting of past guilt and shame.

But be of good courage.

Close your eyes and sigh,

O Lord, have mercy.

Then open them and see heaven before you.

Christ there.

Your center.

Your salvation.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:5-6

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