Tag: guilt

A Prayer of Confession (Psalm 51:1-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
    Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
    purify me from my sin!
Because I know my wrongdoings,
    my sin is always right in front of me.
I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
    I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
    completely correct when you issue your judgment.
Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
    from the moment my mother conceived me.
And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
    you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.

Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
    wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and celebration again;
    let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
Hide your face from my sins;
    wipe away all my guilty deeds!
Create a clean heart for me, God;
    put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
    please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
Return the joy of your salvation to me
    and sustain me with a willing spirit. (Common English Bible)

Sin. The word is rarely used anymore in places outside of churches. And when it is used within the church, sometimes it is grossly misrepresented, as if humanity’s identity is sin.

Although everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, our inherent personhood is not sinful. Every human is made in the image and likeness of God. Sin is like a permanent putrid abscess which never seems to go away.

Sin is everywhere – in our hearts, in our world, in our institutions, and in our families. It is on television, the internet, social media, and moves in and out of smartphones. Sin, apparently, is even in our desserts (oh, the decadence of chocolate!). If it takes one to know one, we are all experts on being sinners.

From a biblical vantage point, sin is serious business. Sin involves both the things we do (1 John 3:4), as well as the things we leave undone (James 4:17). Sin is both the breaking of God’s commands, and the lack of conforming to the teachings of Jesus.

Christians throughout the ages have generally understood that the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and Christ’s law of love (Luke 10:27) constitute a brief summary of God’s holy and moral instruction for humanity.  This is all based in the character of God as both holy and loving. 

Sin, then, can be defined as anything present within a person which does not express, or is contrary to, the basic character of God.

All sin, whether in actions or inactions, has at its root an attitude and activity of self-centeredness. It is a selfish bent of thinking, feeling, and acting. And, oh my, the consequences!

Sinful attitudes bring about an obsession with lust (1 John 8:34; Galatians 5:16); a broken relationship with God (Romans 3:23; Galatians 5:17); bondage to Satan (1 Timothy 3:6-7; 2 Timothy 2:26); death (Romans 6:23; 8:6); hardening of the heart (Hebrews 3:13); and deception (1 Corinthians 3:18; James 1:22, 26) just to a name a few.

Sin lurks in the shadows of the heart, drips from the tongue of the wicked, and lingers in the actions of the selfish and proud. Sin is not something to trifle with, dabble in, or even manage. No, sin, at its core, is a rebellion against God, a stiff-arm to the Lord that claims we know better than God about how to run our lives. 

Sin will eventually break us. It may initially look good and meet a quick emotional need, but in the end sin is like a poisonous snake bite that will kill us unless it’s treated.

People are guilty of transgressing basic morality, as well as failing to be ethically virtuous people on any on-going consistent basis. 

Well, that sounds like a total Debbie-Downer. Actually, it’s total depravity. Being depraved people does not mean we are never capable of doing good; it just means that sin has profoundly touched everything in our lives, without exception.

When we come to the realization that we are in dire straits, then it is high time we blurt out a prayer of confession along with David. The book of Psalms is the Christian’s prayer book, and there is no better prayer to pray when we come to the end of ourselves than the psalmist’s plea for mercy, based in the steadfast love and faithfulness of God.

The ironic paradox of all this is that experiencing true joy and comfort comes through knowing how great our sin is. 

We can live above sin by being set free from it by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. If a person is to be redeemed from sin, then a provision must be made. Sin has been dealt with once for all through the person and work of Jesus. Christ is our representative, taking our place with the punishment we deserved (Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:5-6; Colossians 2:9-15; Hebrews 2:17-18; 1 John 2:1).

Jesus Christ is our ultimate substitute (Romans 5:8) which resulted in: our redemption (Galatians 5:13); satisfying all justice (Romans 3:25); and reconciliation to God (Romans 5:10). Therefore, the person who believes in Jesus is forgiven of sin because Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to deal with all the effects of sin. The Christian is complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10).

A genuine prayer of confession asks for mercy based upon God’s character and ability to heal, rather than trusting in the attempted quality of our petition. 

When it comes to offering a confession in prayer, neither the eloquence of the speech nor the sheer word structure itself is the proper basis for a prayer of confession; utterances of a broken and contrite heart, submitted to God, trusting solely in his grace to transform, are the only words appropriate for approaching God with our sin. 

Such prayers are not to be few and far between; they are to be a regular regimen, engaged on a daily basis. Just as we take pills each day for all that ails us, so we need to take in the mercy of God through prayers of confession that link us to the true healing power which brings spiritual health and life.

Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! Please don’t throw me out of your presence; please don’t take your holy spirit away from me. Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit. Amen.

From Good to Bad (1 Kings 11:26-40)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.

Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph.

About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:

“‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.

“‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes. I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 

“However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’”

Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon’s death. (New International Version)

The prophet Ahijah speaking to the future king, Jeroboam, by Gerard Hoet, 1728

The Good and the Bad

People were originally created by a good God for the purpose of goodness. After forming the first people, Adam and Eve, God looked at humanity and said that it was “very good.” (Genesis 1:26-28, 31)

Yet, even though we all have been created good, that which is bad entered the world by means of the devil. And ever since that time, people in every era have struggled between their inherent design and their innate desires for something different. (Genesis 3:1-20)

Even King Solomon, with all of his great and God-given wisdom, eventually drifted into the bad. He succumbed to allowing other gods to come alongside the worship of the One true God. And there were consequences to those choices.

Recovering the Word “Sin”

“Sin” is a word that isn’t much used anymore. On the one hand, this is okay since the term has been much abused by many a misguided preacher. Yet, on the other hand, it’s a word which needs to be recovered, so that we will learn to avoid the bad and live into our good as image-bearers of God.

As the head of all Israel and Judah, Solomon had a grand kingdom. His father, David, was a man after God’s own heart. So, God established a covenant with David that there would always be one of his descendants on the throne. Solomon followed in his father’s footsteps and expanded the borders of Israel, bringing a level of prosperity and wealth never seen before or since.

And yet, either despite or because of Solomon’s wild success, bits of disobedience began to occur. Perhaps Solomon simply rested on his own laurels; or maybe he could not envision anything other than ongoing abundance. But for whatever reason, King Solomon started gravitating toward having more than he needed and ignored the instructions given to the people by God:

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. (Deuteronomy 17:16-17, NIV)

And that is precisely what happened. Solomon had 700 wives (women of royal birth) and 300 concubines (women of common origin). And all those women served a variety of gods in a cornucopia of religious practices – some of which were downright inhumane and unjust. (1 Kings 11:1-13)

None of us are immune from falling into the guilt and shame of disobedient sin. For Solomon, this had the consequence of having the kingship almost completely ripped from his descendants to another man’s, Jeroboam.

Individuals, institutions, and nations have the potential for both great good, as well as heinous evil. When anyone begins to be concerned only for themselves and rests on their success, instead of the Lord, they have set up themselves for a collapse through the displeasure of God.

Stories of people who topple into sin are all close to the same – having some power, they use it to assert control over another person or group to obtain whatever they want. King Solomon violated God’s law. Not only that, but when he saw his control threatened, he sought to kill Jeroboam. Perhaps Solomon thought he was above all this, and believed he could do whatever he wanted. But he couldn’t.

Sin causes us to sell-out our principles 

Sin only begets more sin until we deal with it. Sin will always distort the truth so that we minimize the impact of our words, choices, and actions. Truth celebrates openness and honesty; sin seeks the shadows and prizes secrecy. 

The first step to dealing with sin is not to minimize it, ignore it, or pretend it isn’t a big deal. If we do not go down this path of truth, then we will be forever encrusting our lives with ways of ensuring that no one ever knows the sinful secrets. 

In fact, much of religious legalism is nothing more than a person piling on the rules in order for others to not see the sin that hides deep within. In Christianity, turning from the sin and receiving the grace of forgiveness in Jesus Christ is the true and real path to spiritual wholeness, happiness, and success in life.

Results that satisfy us do not necessarily satisfy God

Solomon accomplished what he wanted – some of it very good, and some of it very bad. The good was celebrated, and the bad was covered up. Yet, God sees all of it, celebrating with us the good, but not going with us down the path of self-indulgent sin.

We cannot simply assume that because we do something, and there was no immediate lightning strike, that it was okay. It does not matter if it happened yesterday, last month, or twenty years ago. If we did not deal with the sin, God is not satisfied because he wants to dispense grace; love and a flourishing soul cannot happen if we keep putting things out-of-sight out-of-mind. To only satisfy ourselves is being a spiritual cannibal who eats other people alive.

Outward success and abundance means little to God if the inward state leadership is a vacuous soul, bereft of authentic spiritual connection, with no determination toward God’s intentions for a particular course of action. 

Sin is not something to simply be managed; it is to be put to death through the cross of Christ, and applied to life through intentional spiritual practices meant to genuinely connect with God. 

For the Christian, to do less is to wander into a morass of consequences that damage others, not to mention harming ourselves. So, let us do the work of soul care so that the common good of all will thrive in the grace of God in Christ.

God, you have given all peoples one common origin.
It is your will that they be gathered together
as one family in yourself.
Fill the hearts of mankind with the fire of your love
and with the desire to ensure justice for all.
By sharing the good things you give us,
may we secure an equality for all
our brothers and sisters throughout the world.
May there be an end to division, strife and war.
May there be a dawning of a truly human society
built on love and peace.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

The Truth about Lying (Acts 5:1-11)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. (New International Version)

We all know what a deceitful liar is because, well, we have all lied and practiced deceit in our lives. How ubiquitous is lying? According to one Harris poll:

  • The average person tells at least 2 lies every day. (That’s the equivalent of 730 lies per year)
  • 60% of people lie at least once in a 10-minute conversation.
  • 40% of people deceive prospective employers by lying on their resumes.
  • 90% of peoplelie on their online dating profiles.
  • 80% of spouses lieto their partner about their spending habits.
  • 50% of teenagers lieto their parents about their whereabouts.

And those are just lies that have been admitted. So, how many more lies and deceptions are there really out there?…

We also all know why we lie. You will likely find yourself in these top five reasons for lying:

  1. Fear of punishment
  2. Protection from harm
  3. Avoidance of shame or embarrassment
  4. To gain advantage and/or power over others
  5. Out of habit and/or compulsion

However, maybe you aren’t in touch with how lying really impacts you, how powerful deceitfulness truly is on your own psyche and personhood. Lying has major consequences for us including:

  • Loss of trust and damage to relationships
  • Loss of physical health and damage to mental health
  • Loss of job and damage to reputation
  • Loss of resources and experience of damages in lawsuits

In the instance of two people, Ananias and Sapphira, it meant loss of life and damage to the fellowship of new believers in the fledgling church.

The couple’s guilt, in front of the Apostle Peter and the entire church, is that they were counterfeit community members. Ananias and Sapphira were not what they seemed to others. They were not truthful because they were not vulnerable.

By lying in order to achieve an honor and a status they had not earned, Ananias and Sapphira not only dishonored and shamed themselves as patrons; they also unwittingly exposed themselves as outsiders who were pretending to be honest believers. In short, the two of them were imposters.

Their deceit demonstrates that they were still functioning within the existing Roman patronage system. Yet, true followers of Christ in the believing community, purposefully practiced a different system. The Christians had an interpersonal relation of giving and receiving love – which worked out itself in sharing all things in common with one another, without the class distinctions of the patronage system.

The cross of Christ abolished walls of separation and established a truly egalitarian society. To feign equality, but actually still live about in the inequitable world, is tantamount to rejecting the work of Christ’s cross.

The deception of Ananias and Sapphira was an attempt to appear just like Barnabas – who was the real deal, and the consummate steward of resources. Barnabas was an encourager, always thinking of others and the needs of the community (Acts 4:36-37).

Ananias and Sapphira wanted to look generous, but their motives were really to give in order to maintain their class status, and not for the sake of love. What’s more, their lie about it and their lack of honesty and vulnerability was clearly seen by Peter and interpreted by him as nothing less than lying to the Holy Spirit of God.

One of the purposes of the Holy Spirit is to form God’s people into a community that uses resources in accordance with a deep concern for others. It’s not surprising, then, that Ananias and Sapphira’s fakery of generosity is presented as falsifying the work of the Spirit. Their deception was an outright threat to Christian spiritual identity and community.

Like Ananias and Sapphira of old, our contemporary lying is typically to misrepresent who we are and how we are really doing and feeling.

The most common lie of people in the United States is saying “I’m fine” when they are really and truly not okay. Anxiety, depression, and the appearance of negativity is a source of guilt and shame for many Americans – so they lie about how they’re really doing.

It’s better to fake it, they believe, because no one actually cares how I’m doing. There is still very much a cultural stigma around people who admit not feeling well or not being okay. And that, my friends, very much needs to change.

It’s always good to begin with being honest with small things and avoiding white lies. Instead of lying, practice gratitude. Being thankful for all the small things in life is a truthful replacement to a lie. I wonder what Anania and Sapphira would have been like with that sort of healthy spiritual practice. But alas, we can only imagine.

In the case of you and I, we need not have to wonder. We can begin today by observing the good, the beautiful, and the truthful, and express gratitude for all the little ways for the good which is seen.

Grant me today, O God, some new vision of your truth. Inspire me with the spirit of joy and gladness. Make me the cup of strength to suffering souls; in the name of the strong Deliverer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant. The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this:

I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know the Lord, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.” (Good News Translation)

It’s important to pass on the faith to future generations of believers. The key to embracing a life of faith is obeying God’s commands and decrees.

Yet, both within the Old Testament and within our own contemporary religious milieu, God’s people persist in going through significant times of unfaithfulness, infidelity, and disobedience.., Oftentimes, people cannot seem to keep their eyes off the glittering gods that surround them, as if they had some sort of spiritual A.D.H.D.

Also persistent is the God who possesses a faithful remnant of people devoted to observing the covenant and living into the divine promises given to them. Yet, the kingdom of Judah in the prophet Jeremiah’s day, floundered in their commitments and broke faith with the teaching provided for them.

Since God’s grace has the last word, the sins and shortcomings of backslidden people who failed to pass on the covenant teachings to their progeny will have a better ending than that of divine judgment. God’s answer to repeated human failings is to establish a new covenant, unprecedented in its audacious mercy.

Rather than rewriting commands on stone tablets (as with Moses on Mount Sinai) and having a remedial class on the divine covenant and promises for the people, God will instead do the extraordinary, by writing the law on human hearts. That way, people will know the Lord in a direct and immediate way.

And on top of that, it will be for everybody; it won’t only be for the remnant, nor for just the spiritual elite. From the least to the greatest, from young to old, even from Jew to Gentile, God will forgive sins and shortcoming, guilt and shame, once and for all with the new covenant.

If that’s not the most gracious act ever decreed, I’m not sure what is. This is a radical move of spiritual amnesty. It’s completely undeserved. And it’s definitely not something any other god from any other nation would ever do. It’s unthinkable – completely off everyone’s radar. Yet, that is exactly what grace does. Grace provides a way where there seems to be none.

From a New Testament (New Covenant) perspective, Jesus is the fulfillment of all God’s good covenant promises to the people. Furthermore, God’s Holy Spirit serves as the continuing presence of Jesus within us, teaching us and guiding us in the ways of God. 

Our only task, then, is to live into those promises – to know them, claim them, and bank on them. We are most obedient when we believe the promises of God and throw all our hope in them.

The implications of the divine decree of a new covenant are enormous. It means:

  • I cannot do a darn thing to earn God’s acceptance, because I already have it! (John 6:37; Colossians 1:21-22; Romans 8:33-39, 15:7-12)
  • I don’t need to be afraid of judgment because Jesus has already taken care of the sin issue, once for all! (Romans 6:5-10; Hebrews 7:27-28, 10:5-10; 1 John 4:17-18)
  • I lack nothing, because God has already given me everything I need for life and godliness in this present evil age! (Philippians 4:19; 2 Peter 1:3-4)
  • I can know God, right now, without jumping through spiritual hoops or over imposed hurdles, because Jesus leveled the way and made it clear! (John 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 2:9-18)
  • I can enjoy forgiveness and a clean heart because God has decreed it to be so! (Psalm 103:8-12; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:7-13, 10:14-18)

If this were not enough, Jesus has sent the Spirit to be with us forever, to guide us and lead us into realizing the law written on our hearts. We are never alone. God is with us.

Jesus said, “The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Do not be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:26-27, CEB)

In this world of trepidation, fear, uncertainty, and unrest, there is peace, grace, and love because the Father, Son, and Spirit, the one true God, the Blessed Holy Trinity, the Divine Warrior who fights our battles, the Lord of Hosts, has our backs. Yes, this God, and no other god, has the chutzpah to make promises to us and the power to back them up.

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes! Yes! Amen!