“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and
cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before
me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned…” These are the words King David
wrote in a prayer of confession, a prayer we know as Psalm 51. They are
powerful words, deeply felt, welling up from David’s heart. David knew his sin
and made no attempt to rationalize it, excuse it, explain it, minimize it, or
deny it: “for I know my sin is ever
before me”.
We live in a culture where we are far more inclined to try to minimize our waywardness, rather than acknowledge it, where we are quicker to make excuses than we are to offer an honest confession, where we are quick to blame someone else, and slow to accept responsibility ourselves. Yet, as David knew so well, God “desires truth in the inward being”. Anything short of an honest and truly penitent confession may fool others and provide temporary comfort for ourselves, but it will not fool God.
Lent provides us with the opportunity to acknowledge and confess our sins, our transgressions, and our waywardness – all those ways we have turned from God. God wants us to confess and repent. And God expects us to be as honest and forthright as David was almost 3,000 years ago.
“Wash me and create in me a clean heart, O God,” David pleads. This should be our prayer too, a prayer we can lift up with confidence, knowing that if we are indeed honest and contrite, God will wash us clean and “put a new and right spirit within us”.
We cannot hope to grow – truly grow – in discipleship if we refuse to acknowledge when and where we’ve gone wrong. Soren Kierkegaard wrote that without regular introspection and confession, we will never be more than admirers of Jesus Christ, when we are called to be followers. We’ll praise Jesus, applaud his teachings, even immerse ourselves busily in the life of the church, all as we sing out praise for our Lord. But we’ll never be true disciples. To follow Christ – that requires new life, a life modeled on Christ, living as he lived, grounded in compassion, grace, kindness, and love, looking to God to guide us and teach us, and call us back when we stray.
Our Ash Wednesday service, which marks the beginning of Lent, reminds of us our mortality: “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” are the words we hear as ashes are imposed upon our foreheads. That powerful reminder of our mortality should also be a powerful reminder of how easy we find it to turn away, how easy we find it to rationalize, excuse, and even deny our sin, and how difficult we find it to repent in humility and contrition.
But in the love and mercy God has given us in the Risen Christ, we can always find hope for new life. We can always know the joy of forgiveness, the joy of being washed clean, and the joy that we’ll never know as admirers, no matter how enthusiastic, but only as true followers, true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
We live in a culture where we are far more inclined to try to minimize our waywardness, rather than acknowledge it, where we are quicker to make excuses than we are to offer an honest confession, where we are quick to blame someone else, and slow to accept responsibility ourselves. Yet, as David knew so well, God “desires truth in the inward being”. Anything short of an honest and truly penitent confession may fool others and provide temporary comfort for ourselves, but it will not fool God.
Lent provides us with the opportunity to acknowledge and confess our sins, our transgressions, and our waywardness – all those ways we have turned from God. God wants us to confess and repent. And God expects us to be as honest and forthright as David was almost 3,000 years ago.
“Wash me and create in me a clean heart, O God,” David pleads. This should be our prayer too, a prayer we can lift up with confidence, knowing that if we are indeed honest and contrite, God will wash us clean and “put a new and right spirit within us”.
We cannot hope to grow – truly grow – in discipleship if we refuse to acknowledge when and where we’ve gone wrong. Soren Kierkegaard wrote that without regular introspection and confession, we will never be more than admirers of Jesus Christ, when we are called to be followers. We’ll praise Jesus, applaud his teachings, even immerse ourselves busily in the life of the church, all as we sing out praise for our Lord. But we’ll never be true disciples. To follow Christ – that requires new life, a life modeled on Christ, living as he lived, grounded in compassion, grace, kindness, and love, looking to God to guide us and teach us, and call us back when we stray.
Our Ash Wednesday service, which marks the beginning of Lent, reminds of us our mortality: “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” are the words we hear as ashes are imposed upon our foreheads. That powerful reminder of our mortality should also be a powerful reminder of how easy we find it to turn away, how easy we find it to rationalize, excuse, and even deny our sin, and how difficult we find it to repent in humility and contrition.
But in the love and mercy God has given us in the Risen Christ, we can always find hope for new life. We can always know the joy of forgiveness, the joy of being washed clean, and the joy that we’ll never know as admirers, no matter how enthusiastic, but only as true followers, true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
Pastor Skip
