Admitting What's Wrong (5)
Friday October 28, 2016
Until we actually sit down and talk aloud about what we have so long hidden, our willingness to clean house is still largely theoretical. When we are honest with another person, it confirms that we have been honest with ourselves and with God. (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p 60)
Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! (Psalm 32:1-2 NLT)
In the Bible there’s a lovely story of a woman whose life was a wreck. She had experienced broken relationship after broken relationship. She was the talk of the town and it wasn’t for anything good she’d done. Ashamed and humiliated, she lived much of her life out of sight of her neighbours.
One day this woman met Jesus and in the course of her conversation with him, she slowly got honest about how messed up things were in her life. In admitting the exact nature of her wrongs to Jesus, who was filled with love and acceptance towards her, something dramatic happened. This woman, who had been avoiding her community, now had a joyful story to tell them.
The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” (John 4:28-29 NLT)
Not only did she find a new way of life, but her experience, strength, and hope brought about transformation in her community.
Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” … Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. (John 4:39, 42 NLT)
More acceptance, more realism, more humility, more openness to learn and grow in new ways, these are just some of the benefits of admitting to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
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