Guilty!!

I want to expand on a subject that came up in church last week and God showed me again in a book I'm currently reading so I guess it's important enough to go a little deeper. It's a subject that we may not like to talk about a lot and especially about ourselves. It's the subject of sin.

Now I will be the first to admit that I can be quick to notice the sin in other people's lives and a little slow to notice mine. When I come to my confession time during prayer, I admit that I ask the Lord did I sin yesterday? How ridiculous, huh? As if I went through the day not missing the mark, but the point is we easily give ourselves grace.

Where Pastor Bob was great to point out this past weekend is we have two types of sin: sins of commission and sins of omission. The first ones are a little more obvious I think. These are the things that we do wrong, the breaking of His law, the world's law and the like. The sins of omission are not quite that obvious. These are sins where we fail to act or we're lazy or disobedient. In short, we don't do the things we ought to do.

"Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." James 4:17. Just a reminder that it's God telling us about our omission and not man. If we're walking and tracking with the Lord, sins of omission are the ones I think most believers will be committing. We're wise enough to know what we shouldn't do, but often it's a little easier to hide the things we should be doing. I will use myself as an example.

I am blessed to be married to a wise Godly woman who sees things that I don't often see. She sees the big picture very well when I can get caught up in the excitement of a moment or an event. Recently and not intentionally I will point out, I sinned. I missed the mark on how I should have been treating her and she called me on the carpet for it.

Normally, my first reaction is to get defensive, but the Holy Spirit had me stay silent and listen to why she was upset with me. I eventually tried to muster a defense, but ultimately I was convicted. I was guilty. I had not acted in a very loving way to my wife. "For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church." Ephesians 5:25

If Christ had loved the church this way we would be in big trouble. Thankfully, I have a loving wife who has the freedom to point out my sin and where it can be hard to take at the time, the benefit is tremendous. From there, we were able to come together in prayer and I could take it to the Lord and know in my heart I was forgiven. It was a true 1John 1:9 moment. I was completely cleansed from all unrighteousness.

A verse I take very seriously as a husband is from 1Peter 3:7. The last part of the long verse says that I am to treat her as I should so my prayers will not be hindered. This means if I am not treating Judy the way I should according to His word, the prayers that I offer on your behalf will fall on deaf ears. I don't want that to happen since I pray for you all regularly.

I try to find the spiritual in all things and since Judy and I have reconciled and restored, the peace over us has been overwhelming. There is a new sense of freedom and a deeper sense of love. I believe we experience this peace with our Heavenly father when we come to Him and admit we blew it when we fail to act according to His standards and that we'll strive to make it right or make it right the next time if given the opportunity again.

Isn't grace awesome? It's beautiful to see in our earthly relationships, but I'm so glad that we are saved by grace with the Lord. Have a great weekend. I love you all and today I know my prayers are going unhindered for you all.

Amen!