Lord, Something Is Wrong

 June 10, 2024

Monday

I often talk with people who say they know something is not right in their lives but they don't know what it is. Maybe they have gone to church in the past. Maybe they are living two lives. They live genuinely devoted to the Lord at church but find themselves drifting away from Him during the week. They know all the right "churchy" words. They can bamboozle the pastor and the church members but when they get real honest with themselves, they know something is wrong. They honestly don't know what to do.

Many times I don't know what is wrong for them. Every one of us sins at times. Sin does not mean that we are on a journey far away from the Lord. But there is something about sin that many protestants don't recognize. Sin must be confessed if the relationship with God will be righted.

Many of those who believe they must go to a priest to confess do so regularly. They appear to often forget their confession right after leaving the booth and return to their sins. That may appease their consciences but it is not setting things right.

Confession is the full admission that the sin was against God and others with a commitment of not committing that sin again. Sins come in two kinds. There are sins of commission and sins of omission. The sins of commission are the things that have been done that God has said shouldn't be done. The sins of omission are the things God said to do but have been neglected. Very few people see the latter as sins that need to be confessed.

Often, that's what is missing. It isn't the sins of doing wrong that just need to be confessed. It is the sins of not doing right. It is the failure to obey God when He has told them what to do.

Again, there are none of us who can say that we have always done what God said we should do. We have held onto money that we should have given away. We have kept silent when we should have been witnesses. We have stayed at home when we should have gone on mission trips. Maybe we were afraid or we had too little faith. It doesn't matter. We didn't do what the Lord said do.

So, something is wrong. If we stop to think about it, to pray about it, we will see the things we failed to do. We have the opportunity to confess. This time we admit we didn't do what we were called to do but that we commit ourselves to do them. Of course we ask for the Lord's help. He has never failed us.

1 John 1:9–10 (NASB 2020) ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.