“I confessed all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide them.” Psalm 32:5 NLT
“Your soul can become unhealthy with unconfessed sin and wrongs not made right.”
My thoughts today are about “taking out the trash.”
In our family, everyone had chores. When I was a boy, one of my family chores was taking out the trash. It was not a job I enjoyed, but my Dad did not consider any option to my doing so, whenever needed. It was a “must do” matter. Now that our kids are grown and married, taking out the trash has again fallen to me. It’s sometimes surprising how much clutter, newspapers, and garbage accumulates in a household in such a short time. It does not get better by being left unattended. Trash soon begins to smell, exposing any negligence in no uncertain terms.
Have you heard of a hoarding complex? Sadly, there are people who cannot make themselves throw anything away, and I mean anything, even trash? Their house becomes overrun with stuff – trash really – much of which is detrimental, making their house unsafe and their lives unsanitary. Newspapers, magazines, empty milk cartons, leftover food – and worse! – slowly steals their living space until they are left with trails through the trash stored in their house. Tragically, they lose the ability to differentiate between what is useful, and what is harmful if not removed. Trash can take over your life, if you allow it to accumulate.
Your soul can become like that! Cluttered with unconfessed sins, unhealthy friendships, unkept promises, hurts and expired grudges, and old, harmful habits. David felt the emotional and spiritual pain of living like that. After his shameful sin with Bathsheba, and his cowardly attempt to cover up his wrongdoing, he hoped to outrun his sin. But he could not.
Listen to David’s own testimony. “When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed my sins to You and stopped trying to hide them . . and You forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” Psalm 32:3-5 NLT. Life will not work for you, as it should, until and unless you regularly “take out the trash.” Why wait until you are miserable?
There was a time I would have described spirituality by how long I could go without sinning – without failing to live as I knew I should, without doing what I knew I should not do. My spirituality would have been measured on a calendar. I have come to understand that true spirituality is better measured by how quickly I recognize my sinful error and repent, inviting God’s forgiveness and cleansing. Real spirituality is better measured on a stopwatch!
Distance yourself from wrong; don’t delay when dealing with sin. It doesn’t get better or go away on its own; it gets worse. See Psalm 19:12-14NIV/1 John 1:8-9 NIV. Solomon’s advice is clear, “You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.” Proverbs 28:13 Today’s English Version.
Have to go now; I need to take out some trash.
My prayer for you today is that you never tolerate spiritual compromise in your life.