Hidden Sins, Anyone?

Hidden Sins, Anyone?


How is your lenten journey going? I have found praying on my knees being a huge blessing so far. I have been praying that God would open my eyes to see my hidden sins. Those things that are not pleasing to God but I am unable to see myself.

This morning when I was searching for another book I came across Gail Godwin’s novel “Evensong”. I could not help but notice a couple sticky notes peeking out of the book and I decided to see what had caught my attention while reading it.

The first marking was an interesting definition of sin: “A falling short from your totality….choosing to live in way that interfere with the harmony of that totality.”

Too often we think sin is something we do. But this quote shows us that we can also sin by choosing to live in way that interferes with the harmony God has planned for us. Too often we think we are sinless if we don’t commit a bad act. Too often we think we are sinless if we do some good deeds.

But what if we were sinning  just by pulling away from doing God’s will?
What if we were sinning just by not doing our best to fulfill our destiny.
What if we were sinning just by not wholeheartedly pursuing wholeness in Jesus?

Hidden sins, anyone? Lord, have mercy!

The second quote that stopped me once more: “Something’s your vocation if it keeps making more of you.”

This quote beautifully echoes Jeremiah 29:11 (CEB):
I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the LORD; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.

God wants good things for us. Why is it so hard to believe? Why do we so often deny ourselves things that are making more of us? Why do we insist that the place where God is calling us is going to be a place of hardships? Friedrich Buechner states quite the opposite: “The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

There is a reason why God has created us in certain way and gifted us with specific gifts. God has prepared us to do something beautiful precisely where our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

What if we were sinning just by not using our God-given gifts and talents for God’s glory?
What if we were sinning just by not believing God wanted good things for us?
What if we were sinning just by denying ourselves our deep gladness?

Hidden sins, anyone? Lord, have mercy.

 

Let us pray with the words of Psalm 139:23-24 (CEB):

Examine me, God! Look at my heart!
   Put me to the test!
   Know my anxious thoughts!
Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me,
   then lead me on the eternal path!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What has God be talking to you lately?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you examine your ways!

Giving thanks today for
#161 God’s faithfulness
#162 God’s patience with us
#163 Prayer answers
#164 God’s protection
#165 God’s guidance
#166 God’s providence
#167 The Book of Psalms
#168 Christian fiction
#169 God’s loving kindness
#170 God’s great plans for us
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Image courtesy of David Huff. Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty &
Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday &

6 thoughts on “Hidden Sins, Anyone?

  1. Lord have mercy on my soul, Amen. Thank you for your post today, how easy it is to “fly under the radar.” May God continue to bless & keep you!

  2. I often pray for God to reveal to me anything about me that is offensive to Him.  I think that is an important thing to do because we often just go through life without really thinking!  (Do you know what I mean?)  When God reveals the things that are not quite right…then I have the opportunity to lay them at His feet and have my heart changed.

    1. Yes, Joan, I do very well know what you mean. Unexamined life seems only half-lived somehow. Going through the motions is not life! Life with God is something else. Then we are truly living. Thanks so much, sis, for chiming in. I’d love to share some lattes with you sometime. 😉 BLESSINGS!

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