Building One Another
ACKNOWLEDGE Vol 10 No 18
July 19, 2011
Dear Friend,
I once walked into our kitchen and saw our fourteen-month old child very rapidly sit on something. It turned out to be a Magic Marker that had been happily used to draw on the floor!
We have a remarkable capacity to deny what we know of ourselves and to refuse to admit to ourselves, much less to others, that which we know to be errant, sinful behavior.
It is remarkable because when you think about it, there is nothing in you and nothing about your behavior that is not known to the Lord who loves you.
Early in his ministry we read of Jesus, “But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.” John 2:24-25*
If Jesus knew “what was in everyone,” he knows what is in you – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Confession is to acknowledge, to admit, to declare to God the truth about yourself, to apologize and to turn your behavior toward that which honors the God who forgives you.
1O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
7Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? Psalm 139
Confession is not a fleeing. It’s an acknowledging that the Lord who loves you never leaves you but calls you to acknowledge what God already knows to be true and to find renewed hope in that love.
With joy - E. Stanley Ott
Copyright 2011 E. Stanley Ott
*Scripture from the NRSV