Confession is the one of the main tenets of the Christian faith. Catholics practice confession by confessing to a priest while most protestant faiths preach that confession is a private matter between a Christian and his/her God.
However, sin is kind of like fungus. It keeps growing in the dark, hidden places of our lives. Once we expose it to the light, we can truly repent and atone for our sins. Luther's catechism recommends confessing sins to other believers to take the shame out of the sin and thereby removing its power.
Earlier this week, I struggled spiritually and emotionally with what to do about a friend I felt was sinning. I used this blog to sort out my emotions and feelings, but I think perhaps it was inappropriate. While I did my best to make the entry very vague about even the gender of my friend, I am afraid that people who actually know me instead of just stumbling across an army wife blog, may have been able to guess who this person is and instead of opening a door to healing, I’ve sinned by gossiping.
I was really convicted by my devotions last evening.
Philippians 1:27 (KJV)
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
The New International Version reads
Philippians 1:27
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit,[e] striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.
The first translation convicted me because people read the blog and wanted to know who it was, wanted to discuss what rumors people had been hearing, etc. and I hadn’t kept my conversation as pure as I should have. I shouldn’t have written about it (maybe at all), but certainly if I didn’t have the conviction to stand up to inquisition from other friends.
Was my blog becometh of the gospel of Christ? Was my attitude truly humbly wanting to help? While the gospel also calls us to confront sin with fearless truth, putting it out into cyber space was irresponsible.
The scripture calls us to act in a manner worthy of the gospel and my devotional (Logos Bible app) describes the gospel as simple, true, fearless, gentle and loving.
While in my actual conversation with this friend, I believe I was simple, truthful, brave in spite of my very human fear of losing a friend, gentle and loving. Posting it online was really opening me and my friend up to the world. It was wrong.
I would apologize but right now that person isn’t talking to me. The Bible calls us to confront sin in our lives and the lives of those around us so that all can repent and atone and be drawn closer to God, not for the sake of pointing fingers or getting juicy gossip.
So while the more modern, NIV, translation uses the phrase “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel,” right now, I think the KJV convicted me more so because I have a tendency to say what I think or feel without thinking first. I’ve gotten better in recent years, but it seems the more I relax the standards to which I hold my mouth, the worse my mouth gets and the worse my thoughts get because I am not keeping them in check.
My focus for the next few weeks is to work on my conversation and work on keeping my conversation in accordance with the gospel, meaning no gossip and more Christian like diction.
Well said.
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