Hi everyone. What I am about to write stems from an experience I had this morning. As I have pondered it a bit I came up with a few titles. One was "A Lesson From Confession", another was "It's a Trap!"(which I hear in my head being said by a Star Wars character). I suppose I could also have gone with "The Cons of Confession". But -- to the point.
As I was writing in my prayer journal this morning and got to the confession part I started contemplating yesterday. What did I need to confess? Well, some days are just good days. I realize I am gloriously imperfect, and there is no day where I do and say everything just right, but the problem came when I fell into the trap I've fallen into for years, and thankfully I recognized it before I got stuck. I started nit-picking myself. Trying to find everything "wrong" with me. I wrote down "I am selfish" and looked at it. I got out the white out. I got rid of that! I am a child of God who sometimes thinks of myself above others, but selfish is NOT who I am. So, instead I confessed that I was having trouble having compassion for myself and my imperfections, and then I moved on to repentance.
I was always taught that a part of repentance was recognizing what you did wrong, and I know that confession is sometimes necessary as a part of healing. However, I think, for me, it is easier to come at this all from the "return to Christ" perspective. How can I do better today at doing the Lord's will than I did yesterday? Focusing forward on what I can do better now helps me a lot more than focusing on every little thing I might have done or said wrong yesterday.
I also read something this morning that reminded me that Heavenly Father and Jesus are more inclined to remind us of our strengths and how, if we focus on using those for good, our weaknesses will often fall by the wayside. God corrects with compassion, and I'm inclined to confess with condemnation towards myself. So, my prayer journal may just be skipping the step of confession from now on and any confessing I need to do will fall under the heading of repentance. Be careful with confession!
1 comment:
Thank you for your comments Sher, I have admired you and your husband for many years. It has been a while since I have communicated with you. I am sorry that I have missed weddings and other events that I should have either attended or sent a card or such. My life has been full of "stuff" that bogs me down and I hope you can forgive me for this. I too wrestle with how to deal with "confession" within the repentance realm. I always feel so unworthy of the many blessings that our Father in Heaven gives us. I easily recognize His Love but often think I need to explain my failures. I should more readily be full of gratitude and thanksgiving for His great love, patience and the long suffering He goes through with me as His child. I will work on doing better with my repentance and thus be more full of gratitude and recognition for His Grace. I think of you often, love you always, your friend, Jean Christensen
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