Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Devotion 1.25.17

"Lord, deliver me from my lust to vindicate myself." St. Augustine

What's my greatest sin?  My constant insistence on being right.  It's not just mine either.  It is the sin of pride that afflicts all mankind.  We can justify just about anything.  I can justify my stance on an issue with facts, statistics, opinion or just as a stance "just because."  When I work with groups developing plans, I hear it there as well.  I hear it in the workplace.  I hear it in politics at all levels, local and national.  I hear it in the sports' arenas where I watch baseball, football, and occasionally, basketball.  I hear it in the grocery store (sometimes posted online now that people just snap a pic and post it rather than talk to the manager), and I hear it in other locales.  Worse, I hear it at home and at church, from myself and others.

We want to be right, to vindicate ourselves, our thoughts and actions, and worse, it is a lust.

In 1 John, we read, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1:8)  That is a familiar passage in confession, followed by, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1:9)  Still resistant to this notion of a lust to vindicate?  John almost anticipated that because in verse 10, he says, "If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us." 

When I go to the Lord to confess my sin, in private prayer, publicly during church, or maybe even in confession with a pastor or priest, I need to drop my guard.  I sinned.  I was wrong.  It was me.  I cannot blame others or God ("That woman you gave me..." we hear from Adam after the fall in Genesis).  I sinned. 

We pray that we resist our own pride, our lust, to vindicate ourselves and lift our sins to God, who is faithful and just, and who forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness..

Hope Men's Ministry

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