Proverbs 28:13 “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
When we are seeking God in our personal life there is a level of honesty that has to happen. How honest are you with God. How nervous does this make you? Does this make you uncomfortable? Since humilty is the first step of drawiing closer to God, then the next step is being honest with God and others.
When was there a time when you were tempted to leave a better impression of yourself than what was true? What did you do? Why?
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:6-13
Some might think that it is easier to blame others for our actions. This is what Adam and Eve did. Instead of being honest, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. They were not honest with themselves or to God. They were passing the buck. This should their true hearts after they disobeyed God. They were in rebellion and not wanting confess and be honest.
Two things I request of You. (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God. Proverbs 30:7-9
God request two things from each of us. He wants us to remove false hood and lies. When we go before God, we should want to ask for forgiveness of any sin and be honest about our sin, vanity, and lies. We need to remove all corrupt priniciples, practices, and affections, that are all error and mistake. These are the bottom of all sin. Nothing is more mischievous to us than sin, and therefore there is nothing which we should more earnestly pray against than that we may do no evil and be honest about them to God, others, and ourselves.
Read Acts 5:1-11
Ananias and Sapphira were both wanting the praise of others on what they would give in an offering. Instead, however, they kept back part of the money. The problem was that they were representing what they gave to the apostles as the total selling price. Their initial sin was lying—misrepresenting themselves to the apostles and the believers. They were hypocrites, boasting in a gift when they deceptively held back some for themselves. They also sinned in being selfish. They were serving themselves, not others, by their cover-up. Instead of being honest they let pride come into their hearts and lied.
Now read Psalm 24:3-5
What do you think it means to speak from your heart in truth? Why is it important to be completely honest with God and others to have a deep relationship with God?
Being honest is hard, but God calls us to be honest with him, others and with ourselves. It open the gate way to God.
Dear Heavely Father,
Thank you for you allowing us to be in your presence. I pray that each of us will be honest with ourselves and with you and others. I pray that we will deal with the sin in our lives.
In Jesus Name
Amen
