Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:1-5 NIV)

So often we rob ourselves  of Joy simply because we refuse to confess our transgressions. We let things fester. We push away others because of wrongs we have done. The odd thing is that most people say “if you would have brought it to me first, then it wouldn’t be such a big deal”. I think the question we need to ask is, “is this the truth about us?” Maybe we are project our unforgiving nature on to others including God. Do we willingly forgive, or do we hold on to our “right” to be angry? We tend to be our own worst enemy.

I have heard it said that we often expect others to treat us a we would treat them.  But, if we are honest, that is not always how God would have us treat one another. He willingly forgives His children, and through His son, He adds more to that number. He desires a relationship with us, and unconfessed sin gets in the way on that. I believe this is more often because we turn our backs on Him. The odd thing is that we make the mistake of saying that He has turned from us, but that is not how He works. It is true, in a sense, that God cannot have sin in His presence, but as the world is full of sin and Christ came into the world, one must wonder the extent of this truth.

The fact is that God wants a relationship with His creation, and it is us who push Him away. We put whatever human forgiveness frailty on God that we can because  we are afraid to own up to our mistake. We build a wall to protect us, to protect our pride. Therein lies the  problem: pride.

Pride is the reason we refuse to forgive, and the reason we refuse to ask for forgiveness. On the one hand, we deserve to be angry. On the other hand, we don’t want to be foolish or or to be at someone else’s mercy. We tend not to practice mercy as we ought, therefore we assume the same from others. Perhaps that is why Jesus taught us to pray “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive or debtors”. We cannot go around demanding forgiveness. We can go around forgiving others. We can change our attitude, and maybe that will show others the true nature of the One we serve.

Until next time, may God grant you the gifts of forgiveness and forgiving.

In Christ,

Perry Tripp