Lie 7: Sin Is Too Personal To Talk About

(A series on lies sin tells us to tempt us and trick us. Read the whole series here.)

We like to keep sin hidden.

It’s only natural. Our enemy knows this and encourages this.

Sin is ugly, shameful, and feels very personal to us. Sharing about our sin feels threatening, putting us at risk of judgement or worse, accountability.

Yet leaving sin in the darkness does no good. That’s where sin thrives.

We don’t have to wear scarlet letters or spill our guts in unsafe relationships, but the Lord does ask us to call sin what it is. He calls us to expose our sin to the light of truth: Him.

Join these bloggers as they participate in the drawing of sin’s deception out of darkness into Christ’s light:

1. The Lie: You are Good Enough

By Helene at Maidservants of Christ

“…left to myself, I know I am neither righteous nor good.

You know that too, don’t you?   Our culture constantly bellows “You’re special! You’re important!  You’re just great!” then backhands us with a thousand insults to prove we’re not.

But we recognize sin’s lie when it comes a calling. Deep in our hearts is the whispered truth.  ‘I’m no good.” To which God says simply, “I know you’re not.  But I am.’”

2. I Don’t Need to Confess My Sins, Right?

By Becky at My Ink Dance

“Confession doesn’t put the things back together, but it does give you permission to let go of the broken pieces.

That mama knew what happened all along. She was only waiting for her daughter to confess. Not so she could scold, but so she could forgive.”

3. 3 Lies We Believe About Repentance

By Alyssa at Living By The Light of the King

“I’ve heard it said that repentance means that we turn away from our sin.

But the truth is that the original Greek word used through the New Testament (metanoia) doesn’t really have anything to do with sin. It actually means ‘change of mind.’”

True repentance isn’t just about sin.”

4. I Can Stop Whenever I Want

By Irina at Blessed Beyond Borders, Beyond Boundaries

“At first, we try to convince ourselves that nobody notices our sins. Whatever I do behind the closed doors is nobody’s business. It’s my life and I can do whatever I want. As long as the sin doesn’t hurt anybody, my sin is not a big deal.”

5. Worthless

By Kendra at Stronger With Christ

“When I focus on God (and not my problems), He changes everything. When I focus on the truth of His Word, I can believe that God loves me. When I focus on my failure, I question how anyone could love me.

When I trust God, my confidence grows. When I trust myself, I believe sin’s lies.”

6. God Isn’t Enough

By Casey at Cattails, Rabbit Trails, and Thistlefish

“Instantly, the enemy is at hand to whisper subtly: ‘He doesn’t actually want to give you what you want.’

Even worse, sometimes that whisper speaks, ‘He’s withholding good things from you; how dare he?’”

7. Faith and Fear and Perfect Love

By Shannon at In Between His Times

“The truth is that the Lord commands us not to be anxious about anything. Not requests it. Not tells us that it’s a nice thought. Not suggests it as one of 5 Steps to a Healthier Life.

Nope.

Commands.

What an uncomfortable word.”

This post may also be shared on: #MomentsofHope #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, #TellHisStory, #Thought-Provoking Thursday, #Heart Ecnouragement, #DanceWithJesus, #LLMLinkup, Faith-Filled Friday, Sitting Among Friends, and #SoulSurvivalLinkup.

What in Your Life is Ruthless?

The headache that comes back again and again. A chronic illness that knocks you off your feet without regard for where you’re headed or how much pain you’re already in.

The thought in your head that you are not good enough, no matter how hard you’ve tried. A lie, on repeat, that you can’t ever measure up or be worthy of love. Guilt that won’t subside.

The boss that never respects your time or how much has already been put on your plate on a tight deadline. A person who continues to abuse, even when ties have been cut.

What in your life is ruthless?

Some of these are mine. Some belong to my loved ones. Some are yours. There are others, too.

We all face the ruthless, that which is “without pity or compassion; cruel; merciless.”

Whose synonyms are “unrelenting, adamant, cruel.”

Isaiah 25:4 describes how it feels:

“the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall
and like the heat of the desert.”

Isn’t that the truth? That which is ruthlessly disrespectful, uncompassionate, and cruel in our lives feels like a tremendous force against us that we can’t flee from. It bears down on us like heat that cannot be escaped, draining us of our energy and our strength.

In Isaiah’s praise to the Lord, He describes how the Lord is our refuge. He goes on to say, in reference to the ruthless:

“You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.”

With just a moment of time and a compassionate thought in mind, our Lord makes cloud cover turn down the heat. He silences the storm thrashing us against the wall. He stills the ruthless.

After describing how the ruthless flourish, only to pass away and be found no more, the Lord reiterates in Psalm 37:39-40:

“The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;

he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

The Lord helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.”

What a refuge we have in Him! Never needing to hide or to fight a losing battle alone until we are left as empty heaps of nothingness. Endure, endure. Stay fast in the Lord because the wicked will not ultimately win.

The Lord is stronger, safer, and more steadfastly unchanging than any ruthless thing we face in this world.

Such sweet relief we find in the shadow of those unmovable, unshakable wings.

Remember the Gospel. The ruthlessness of sin, even now as it persists. Christ wins.

This post is being shared on: #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, #Intentionally Pursuing, #WomenWithIntention, and #TellHiStory

Out of Excuses

“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.” –John 15:22

Many religions offer gods to admire and follow: Christianity alone offers a Savior. And with our Savior, the truth that we need to be saved.

Regardless of our efforts, we cannot be good. Not only can we not live up to the perfect standard of the Lord, but we can’t even live up to what we intend for ourselves. And we have no excuse because we know…

“Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” –Romans 1:20

We’re out of excuses for our sinful rejection of the Lord. He has been revealed to us. We act on our fleshly desires anyway, even, as Paul says, when we don’t want to. Our guilt is certain. We’re convicted.

However, we are not condemned. Christ, without making any excuses for us, has justified us before God.

Still…we make excuses, don’t we?

When our sins are obvious to others, we point to our good intentions. If we slip into sin, we minimize it, calling it a mistake. We all take opportunities to explain away the wrong we’ve outright chosen –it’s because of my past that I was psychologically inclined to this sin, I might say.

Living without excuse is not something we tend to readily embrace. To admit sin without any excuse seems embarrassing and even self-effacing.

There is no justification, no sufficient excuse, for our sinfulness and our continuing in sin. That is, again, no justification apart from Christ.

To live without excuses is to take hold of the sin in our lives. Taking our sin into our own hands has to come before we can hand it over in surrender to Him. Repentance means nothing is we refuse to admit that we have anything to repent of.

We often say that we’ve surrendered things to the Lord…and then that perhaps we didn’t give it all up. Sometimes, I think that’s because we point God in the direction of the stuff “weighing us down” instead of actually handing it over.

If it’s not yours, you can’t really give it up. Own your sin. Make no excuse. And breathe in full relief and joy when He gladly takes it –your very burden of sin- from you.

This post is being shared on: #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, #Intentionally Pursuing, #WomenWithIntention, and #TellHiStory