Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Confession of the repentent

The bent of my heart is to conceal,but the desire of my heart is to confess. I am a liar; deceiver; one who lashes out in anger; one who is selfish and desires my pleasure above all. I have taken what was not mine, I guess that makes me a thief. My eyes lust for what is not mine and horded what I thought I could have all to my self. With all this coming forth from my mouth(hands), what remains is an empty shell of a person wanting the breath from heaven to give real life with nothing to boast of except The King of Heaven to accept and receive this sinful man and make me clean.
In Proverbs 28:13 is is written;"He that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes shall have mercy." This is the idea of concealing ones sins and trying to cover them up. It is for the one who confesses, that is, acknowledge in thought and in deed(repentance) toward G-d, coupled with belief in the Lord Jesus that there is salvation.
Romans 10:9-10;" ....that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that G-d raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
I must confess here as I try to get into Pauls head,that I am just trying to figure out what he meant by belief and confession. Is it the mental ascent of knowledge and just preferring some creed? Or is there more to this idea that has been lost in translation over the past 2000 years?
Paul through out the letter has been trying to get his readers to turn from pride and back to the one he preached, or to the one they had heard from someone else preaching. He appeals to the death of Jesus and his purpose, ultimately revealed in his resurrection, in hopes that it would cause the hearts of his readers to turn back in humility to their G-d. It is in the universal message that all men fall short of G-ds glory and through belief, that is, the message that pierces the heart and causes one to recognize G-ds greatness and our own falleness and thus thrusts us towards the message conveyed.
Following side by side, belief and confession clasp hands together and the relationship between G-d and man is restored. Like David relationship with G-d after his confrontation from Nathan the prophet; his joy of his salvation was restored, even though there were horrible reprocutions for his terrible actions.
Once again in Pauls' strong belief in Jesus as Messiah, the central part of his message, is putting faith into the Lord Jesus. This is his focal point, for all to turn back and to G-d though the power of the resurrection of Jesus.
I think it is important to comment on this part of Pauls' thinking here(at least it is for me). It is not just "believing in Jesus" to be saved that makes up the bulk of this letter or the gospel for that matter. The whole message, whether it is taught by the pen of Paul, James, Peter ect...is a message of explanation, proclamation, exhortation and invitation and exponentially to bow to the command of G-d himself.
"For with the heart one believes unto righteousness..."
Paul springs off of his use of Abrahams favor with G-d(chp.4) to make his point stand firm. It was Abraham believing the physically impossible to be possible with omnipotent G-d he had come to know. It is the believing in G-ds promises that this becomes a sweet smelling aroma of the sacrifice of what Abraham could not do. It is faith accompanied by the humility of confession that we place our disbelief, disillusionment, dashed dreams and hopes, our sinfulness and pride and lay them upon the alter of sacrifice to be burned. What is left after the sacrificing of these things is the wonderful gift of new life, new beliefs; perspectives; new hopes and dreams and a G-d that is pleased that you believe in Him and His Son.
This is the power of confession and the wonder of belief. It is not an easy believe-ism and it is not a belief that is prideful, but humble and willing to walk side by side with another. It the glory of faith and belief which allows us to never lift self up so as to overshadow another but step out of the way to lift up another so as to glorify the giver of all good.
Lord forgive me of my sin and accept my confession of my own pride which separates me from you who alone is worthy of boasting. Amen.

1 comment:

  1. I think another important aspect of the word "believe" that will help us understand Paul is the aspect of its meaning as TRUST. To believe in Jesus as the risen Messiah means far more than intellectual assent, though it includes that. More importantly, it is trust in His Messiahship; it is surrendering ones own schemes and plans to the will of God through the means of salvation that God has provided, namely, His Son as the Risen Messiah.

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