Confessed

TITLE: Confessed
DATE: May 30, 2019
TEXT:  Colossians 3:13 -  ESV - Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

When I first graduated from the Seminary it was customary for  congregation members who wished to attend Communion on Sunday to first visit  with the pastor on Saturday afternoon. It was a good custom, and I, for one, am saddened to see, except in a few churches, to see  it’s passing.

If the custom is new to you, I should explain there was a two-fold purpose.

1. First, it allowed a time of private confession and introspection.
2. It helped the Altar Guild decide how much wine and bread to lay out.

It was during one such visit that a farmer’s wife observed and (sort of) confessed: "Pastor, we are living in a wicked land where sin is on every hand. I have had a terrible fight with the old devil all week long."

Hearing what his wife had just said, her previously and normally,-silent husband stirred himself and replied, “Revener, my wife can call me the ‘old devil’ if she wants, but not everything wrong at our house is my fault. I’ll be honest, she can be tough to live with, too.”

Get it? You see, the wife was talking about THE devil and the husband thought… she was talking about him….

All of which is my way of getting to the question: “Have you been having a tough time with the old devil in your life?"

Now, I’m not speaking about THE devil’ I am speaking about other people in your life who give you a devilish time.
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If you are like most folk, you know somebody who has habits which drive you crazy; whose idiosyncrasies send us up the wall; people who make us act… well, make us act less than Christian. Now, it’s possible that they really are as devilish as you think.
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But it’s also possible that we might be hard to get along with, too.

 To the best of my knowledge every one of the people who are reading or hearing this devotion is a transgressor. And…If our wrongs don’t upset other people, they will certainly not be not be pleasing to the Lord.

Which is why all of us still need to come to the Lord and say, “Lord, be merciful to a sinner.”:

• We may wish to do this confession publicly during a worship service.
• Or we may, especially for those sins we know and feel in our hearts, take advantage of having private confession with our pastor.

Private confession or public, either way we are able to rejoice in the forgiveness which we know is ours though the precious blood of the Savior.

It’s a help He will give. After all, because of His Son’s sacrifice, the perfect God has forgiven us.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive me and help me forgive others. Help me to reflect the love I have received from Jesus to those who may not seem to be especially lovable. In His Name. Amen.

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along mwith three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html