Life can get pretty busy with responsibility. We go to work. We pay bills. We try to raise our kids the best we can. Most of the time we are so caught up in the day to day stuff that we just don't have time to deal with God stuff. So when our sins are revealed to us, what do we do? We take the dirt in our lives and we sweep it under the rug. It's just easier that way, right? It's easier to say that we will deal with it later. It's easier to hide it away where no one will see it. And maybe, just maybe, if we ignore it long enough it will disappear. Now of course we all know this isn't true. I mean, when we stop for two seconds to think about it, we see the idiocy in those thoughts, but in the moment, when the baby is crying, when the house is a mess, or when the boss is demanding work be done, we do what we think is right. On those rare occasions we might actually get some 'free time' we certainly don't want to spend it dealing with our sins. No, we want to spend it relaxing, laughing, or in some way distracted from the pain of life. Where does this lead? It certainly doesn't lead is towards God. It certainly isn't the way we can live out the rest of our days on this planet before spending eternity with out creator. And, it certainly isn't healthy for us (believers) to ignore our sins while simultaneously trying to spread God's love to the ends of the Earth. At some point we must take off the Sunday morning mask, stop pretending everything is alright, and take a look at who we are on the inside.
James 1:14-15 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
The longer we ignore the sin in our life, the more we will give into it. If our thoughts are constantly fixed on pushing it back, and dealing with it 'later' then we will live in constant fear of the sin.
- How long can I hide this?
- Will people find out?
- Are they talking behind my back?
- Can I really be a leader?
- I'm such a hypocrite.
As Yoda so wisely put it, "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." And then, my friends, we are on the path to the dark side and before we know it we have robotic arms and have to wear a helmet and suit just to breath. I'm joking, obviously, but think on the visual of that for a moment. Anakin Skywalker's fear and hate led to a life that couldn't be fully lived. The Force may have been strong within Darth Vader, but he couldn't breathe on his own. He could move objects with his mind, but he couldn't lift his arms over his head. Likewise, our sin weighs us down. It puts us on life support. Our fear will lead us to hate ourselves. Our fear will lead us to pointing out the sin in other peoples' lives to distract people from seeing us for who we truly are. What started out as a little pile of dirt, has buried us alive, and if left unchecked, we will spend the rest of our lives fighting for every breath. Thankfully, we serve a God who is in the business of emptying graves. We serve a God who takes away the dirt, and makes us new. In Jesus we find a man who faced every temptation possible and was victorious. In His death, He took on the punishment of our sins so that we wouldn't have to carry the weight of our dirt. And in his resurrection, we were freed from sin, and made clean in the eyes of our Creator. God's grace is like a giant Dyson vacuum cleaner, sucking up the dirt in our lives, and leaving only the perfect and righteous being He created. When we accept His grace, pull the carpet back, and let Him clean up our mess, then we can begin to live life as God intended.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.