Friday, February 1, 2013

Friday’s Devotion: True Confessions


Psalm 38:18  I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.
Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

When I was growing up, of all the magazines on the stand in the grocery stores, “True Confessions” intrigued me the most.  Please remember I grew up in a much more conservative era. The magazine is still being published, but the contents are certainly not a scandalous as they would have been in the past. I see that as a sad thing.  What we would have called immorality in the past has now become just the norm. I don’t think that makes for healthy individuals or a healthy society. Admittedly, not all is bad news.  I’m happy that we have gotten over the extreme racism of the days of segregation and that women are having more opportunities in the workforce. Yet I wish all those out there living unhealthy lifestyles would come to know Christ and change their ways.  While society may have relaxed its moral standards, the Word of God calls us to truly confess our sin and change our lives.   I know that Joe and I and those among whom we live and work are in the center of a group of people trying to live according to God’s standards.  Maybe the answer to change is to try to influence those between us and the very outer fringes and hope that there is a ripple effect going ever outward, bringing the Gospel and all it offers to everyone. 

Holy God, we live in a society where children are having children and children are killing children.  We pray that you will give us, your followers strength to witness to others in love and to offer them the vision of a better life. We ask in the name of the one who died for our sin. Amen.
Have a grace-filled weekend.
Paige

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