Lying
Until I admit that I am weak, I will never become strong.
I remember well my bad choices during the past 18 months. How could I persist in error for such a long time? I vainly searched outside myself for an answer, but the truth laid within me.
I have made a habit of lying - to my loved ones, to my friends, to myself, and to the world - and it stings to reveal it. I believed in error that only malicious or unprincipled people could be liars. Gosh, I was wrong!
Satan loves to take our gifts and turn them into vices. I am no exception. I turned one of God's great gifts to me, my intellectual ability, into an instrument of conceit. I puffed myself up into thinking that I could delay, delay some more, go hear a guest lecturer or waste time surfing Wikipedia, and finish my assignments in unrealistic time frames. I turned in assignments late because I wanted to write "the perfect paper", instead of doing my best in the allotted time.
I have been full of carelessness and cowardice. I have made promises that I knew, in my inmost heart, that I could not fulfill. I have lied many times over.
I cannot fulfill God's plan for me until I repent. The Good News [Mark 1:4] says: "John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
In Luke 3:7-8, John the Baptist tells the crowds who come to hear him preach: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham."
The specific claim - fleshly descent from Abraham - is not relevant; what matter is the wider message that God admits no claim based on human strength. God could, if he willed, take away my intellect or my life in a flash. That he has not testifies only to the redemptive sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, on the cross.
Please pray for me as I endeavor to tell the truth from this moment forward. Please also pray for my Dad's cousins. One of them, Paul Michael, is donating a kidney to another, Gail, this evening. I ask for a speedy recovery for both of them.
I remember well my bad choices during the past 18 months. How could I persist in error for such a long time? I vainly searched outside myself for an answer, but the truth laid within me.
I have made a habit of lying - to my loved ones, to my friends, to myself, and to the world - and it stings to reveal it. I believed in error that only malicious or unprincipled people could be liars. Gosh, I was wrong!
Satan loves to take our gifts and turn them into vices. I am no exception. I turned one of God's great gifts to me, my intellectual ability, into an instrument of conceit. I puffed myself up into thinking that I could delay, delay some more, go hear a guest lecturer or waste time surfing Wikipedia, and finish my assignments in unrealistic time frames. I turned in assignments late because I wanted to write "the perfect paper", instead of doing my best in the allotted time.
I have been full of carelessness and cowardice. I have made promises that I knew, in my inmost heart, that I could not fulfill. I have lied many times over.
I cannot fulfill God's plan for me until I repent. The Good News [Mark 1:4] says: "John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
In Luke 3:7-8, John the Baptist tells the crowds who come to hear him preach: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham."
The specific claim - fleshly descent from Abraham - is not relevant; what matter is the wider message that God admits no claim based on human strength. God could, if he willed, take away my intellect or my life in a flash. That he has not testifies only to the redemptive sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, on the cross.
Please pray for me as I endeavor to tell the truth from this moment forward. Please also pray for my Dad's cousins. One of them, Paul Michael, is donating a kidney to another, Gail, this evening. I ask for a speedy recovery for both of them.
posted by Jason at 9:03 PM
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