When I was a kid my parents owned a campground on Lake Movil near Bemidji, Minnesota. When I was about 11 or 12 a family came to camp for a week or so. They had a girl that we called Romance. They also had a canoe. One afternoon Romance invited me to go paddling with her in the canoe. We paddled all the way across the lake. Unfortunately I was so enamored by getting to be in a canoe with this girl that I failed to look back and realize how far we had come. I neglected to look down and realize how young and inexperienced in paddling a canoe we were, and I failed to look around and recognize that the wind was picking up and blowing us away from home. By the time we turned around to head home we were in trouble. No matter how hard we paddled we couldn’t make headway against the wind. Finally a boat came to tow us home. All we had to do was recognize our need, look up and say thank you.
Two weeks ago I introduced the blog entitled Dealing With Sin. I used the phrases look back, look down, look out and look up as short reminders of the principles related to dealing with sin in our lives. I addressed the first two, throughout blogs Dealing with Sin (Pt 1-4), by saying that when dealing with sin we need to first look back, remembering the pain and consequences of sin in our lives and the lives of those around us. We then need to look down, recognizing, acknowledging and taking full responsibility for the offensiveness of our sin. When we allow ourselves to be broken over our own sinfulness we are ready for grace. This week I would I intend to think through what it means to look out and to look up.
Eza 9:15 “O Lord, the God of
Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is
today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you
because of this.” (ESV)
It has been my experience that when we are caught in sin we go looking for affirmation. We seek normal conversations with good people so that we don't have to think about our sin, or so we can convince ourselves that what we are doing is really not all that bad. As a result, when the conversation gets close to addressing our sin we tend to have one of three responses.
1.
We look a little ashamed, admit that we've made some
mistakes, and assure those we are talking to that we are trying to change or
have changed. In other words we make light of both the severity of our sin and
our personal responsibility.
2.
We attempt to justify our sin by blaming others,
insisting that we couldn't help ourselves, our sin is the fault of how we were
made or raised (it is either God's fault or our parents fault), or explain that
someone coerced us or deceived us. In other words we make light of both the
severity of our sin and our personal responsibility by shifting the blame.
3.
We insist, no matter how much evidence there is to the
contrary, that we haven't done anything wrong. We may try to explain why what
we are doing is okay, or we may simply walk away or get angry because we are
being "falsely accused" and attacked. In other words we make light of
both the severity of our sin and our personal responsibility by living in
denial or by attacking our accusers. None of these responses to sin are
helpful or healthy, but we do them all the time.
To their credit, we find the people agreeing with Ezra. They are not trying to pretend that what they are doing is acceptable. They are not trying to shift the blame. They are not trying to make light of either the severity of their sin nor their personal responsibility. They joined Ezra in brokenness over sin, acknowledged their guilt and sought a solution. Ezra admitted, "Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.” The people agreed. Dealing with sin begins by laying aside all the excuses and honestly admitting that what we have done is wrong. No excuses. That is hard to do, but it is a necessary step to freedom.
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