Th.7.2.15...Honest Confessions...Prov.28:1-14

He who conceals his sins does not prosper, 

but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy" Prov.28:13

What do you mean, he doesn't prosper? King David committed adultery and then covered it up by murdering Bathsheba's husband, but he didn't go bankrupt. True, but he did not prosper in his spiritual life, in his family life or in his kingdom. Remember, Proverbs is wisdom literature, seeking to motivate us to live wise lives devoted to God. And it is the God-ward view that must be kept in mind. Just look at the second half of the verse, "whoever confesses them finds mercy." Notice it didn't say, "whoever confesses his sins will find wealth." No, God wants us to prosper in the greatest way, and that is in finding God's mercy. The Hebrew word here for mercy is "racham" (Pronounced: raw kham) and it is often translated "compassion." This same word is used twice in Ps.103:13, "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him" Ps.103:13. Because of being adopted into His forever family through repentance and faith in Christ, God is now our compassionate Father, not our outraged judge. Thus, "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him" Ps.103:11.

It would be great to think that after becoming God's children, we would no longer struggle with sinning any more. But we will face that battle daily, and at times we will fall. That is the time to take the wise advice of J.C. Penny, "When you fall down, get up." That is a paraphrase of sorts of Prov.24:16, "though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again." The way we rise when we fall is by confessing our sins, not concealing them. Confessing them brings cleansing, concealing such a wound only makes it infectious. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9.

Just as we need to confess any sinful words, deeds or thoughts to God to find restoration, we also need to confess our wrong words and actions to those we've offended. As men, it seems especially hard to humble ourselves and admit when we've done wrong to others, especially to our wives. We often want to justify, defend, minimize, rationalize or blame-shift. But when we do this, our relationships do not prosper. It is only when we eat humble pie (by now I should have developed a taste for it) that we will find mercy and forgiveness. But the confession must be genuine. It won't be well received if our half baked apology includes such things as, "If I hurt you, I'm sorry." No, you did hurt her. Own up to it. "What I did was wrong, but you made me so angry when you..." No, leave out her faults, you are to be confessing only your own wrongdoing, not hers.  

The Pharisees appeared to be very spiritual, but I see no evidence that they confessed their sins. They buried their heads in the sand to their own faults, 

but were quick to judge the faults of others. They would rather look down their noses at the sins of others. "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” Luke 18:9-14.

I grew up with a good dad, but of course he had his faults. For one, he could never bring himself to apologize. Later when he came to Christ, the Lord changed him in that way, but I picked up his fault early on. It's still hard for me to apologize to my wife. I remember years ago when we were having an argument, she said, "How come every time, you come off smelling like a rose?!" Ugh, self-justification stinks! I've been working on this area and have seen some improvement by God's grace. The R column on our scoreboard has helped to remind me to guard my words when things start to get tense. 

I have noticed another immature thing that I want to work on and that's raising my voice. I'm not a yeller, but I do raise my voice when I get flustered. Yet it is wise to at least appear calm when a storm is brewing. A quote by Thomas Jefferson comes to mind. "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."  Maybe it's because of my personality type, but to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances seems beyond me at times, yet I think it would be a good thing to still strive for. That's why I'm going on record. I will be using our Points For Progress columns on our Scoreboard to prompt me to improve in this area. When I am tempted to raise my voice in a conflict situation, but don't, I will give myself a Plus Point. But when I fail to do so, I will give myself a Minus Point. I used this approach with "swearing off" my addiction to diet Mt. Dew and it helped greatly. Also having a great reason to do so really helped. I will not give in to the temptation to drink caffeine until all my M3 brothers are no longer giving in to the temptation to porn. It's the least that I can do as they battle that monster. 

If you are new with us and need help in this area of conquering porn, just let me know. You have brothers that are fighting it and making good headway with the online filtering soft-wear that they've installed and having accountability partners. This is a winnable war. It's through honesty that we can begin to make real progress. He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy" Prov.28:13. Please join me in using the Points For Progress to improve any area of your life. It's a simple but powerful way, by God's grace, to motivate improvement in your life. Just try it and see.  

1.- The author of the book of James was nicknamed camel knees because of his calloused knees in prayer, yet he included himself when he said, "We all stumble in many ways..." Jame 3:2. So where might you be stumbling and wanting to making better progress? 

2.- Read Prov.28:1-14 and share the verse you picked out and some thoughts you have regarding it. 

Announcements
It was good reading yesterday about how so many of you are seeking to invite others into M3. As you give them an M3 card, especially encourage them to first watch our bit.ly/m3-stories video before going to our website. Then by all means, get their phone number and follow up with them. That's what you did when you were dating right? Same idea. I have recruited several men, but I don't recall any of them calling me up seeking more information after I first told them about M3. Seems like I've always been the initiator of the phone calls and texts. Were there men I pursued that later fizzled out in their interest? Lots! But just keep following Jesus and fishing. That's our calling. "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men" Mt.4:19. And remember to give yourself double points in the R column for each Recruiting conversation you had with a brother. 

I liked what Israel recently shared about his giving out of the Greatest Mini-movies cards. He said of the cards he has given out so far, "...everyone I gave them out to has told me that they would watch the movies. I made them promise to watch all 25 movies :) Funny story, right after our last M3 meeting, I took some cards with me and I went to lunch with several of my nephews and nieces and I took out one of the cards and gave one to their family and I did not tell the kids what the movies were about. For about an hour, they probed me and begged me to tell them what the movies were about?? I kept telling them that they needed to watch the movies for themselves to find out :) in order to satisfy their inquisitive minds :) I finally pulled up the website on my phone in the restaurant and I started playing the movies and all the kids were watching the movies :) You can use them to really build up curiosity!"

It's coming! Our next M3 meeting will be Sunday, July 12th at 11:30 at New Life Midway's luxurious Break Room :) Important new info and honors will be given. Please plan on being there and feel free to invite interested friends.