Several weeks ago, I
had the “fun” experience of having my knee aspirated. If you’ve never had this done, you may just
want to add it to your bucket list. What
a great time it was. I had talked to
others who had it done, so I knew a little bit of what to expect…but until you
have it done yourself, you really can’t understand the process.
Just in case you
aren’t getting my form of satire, to say this procedure was painful is an
understatement. The doctor warned me
that it was going to hurt and of course I had a choice. I could either continue with the pain that
the fluid in my knee was causing, or I could go through the pain of the
aspiration and hopefully have less pain afterwards. No one else could do it for me, because I was
the one with the problem. In the end, I
decided I would take the immediate pain because I figured I had endured a lot
of pain in my life…so this really shouldn’t be too bad.
I can now laugh at my
thought pattern that day, but at the time, I wasn’t laughing. To be honest, it was all I could do not to
cry and I have a very high pain tolerance. But in the end, I have to admit that it was
worth the hurt to have some relief afterwards.
That day brought
something to my mind. How many times in our Christian walk, when we
know there is something wrong with our relationship with Jesus, do we do
nothing because we don’t want to go through the pain of setting things straight? We know it is our choice whether we confess
our sin to Him because He never forces us to do anything. So it’s up to you and me to decide whether we
are willing to humble ourselves now, knowing that it might be painful to admit
our wrongdoing, or put it off for a later time.
The problem is that if we decide to wait, we are more apt to begin to
rationalize our sin…thinking that it really isn’t that bad. The more time that passes, the more used to
the sin we become, and we can find ourselves falling farther away from our
Jesus.
I think the longer we
wait, the easier it often is to blame others for our actions. “If you just knew my mother, you would
understand why I acted the way I did.” “If you
worked for the boss I work for, you
would think what I did wasn’t so bad.”
"If you knew what my husband/wife was really like, you would understand why I left
when I did.”
Rationalizing a sin so
that we don’t have to go through pain in the present will just cause more pain
in the end. The sooner we take ownership
of our actions and ask for forgiveness, the better off we will be. No one else can do it for us. Just like we won’t answer for anyone else’s
actions, no one else can answer or be blamed for our sins. We have to be willing to take responsibility,
even if it causes us discomfort.
The amazing thing is
that once we confess our sin, Jesus completely forgives us. We are completely cleansed. He doesn’t even remember our transgression
and never brings it up again. Hebrews
8:12 says, “And I will forgive their
wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
It is so important for
each of us to take inventory of our life to see if we have anything that needs
to be confessed. Are we dragging our
feet because we know that it may cause pain in the present? Holding off will just make things worse and
more painful in the days to come. Each
of us needs to repent of our sin today, asking Jesus to completely cleanse us
anew. He is ready and willing. I have learned from experience that any pain
we experience now is so worth it to be made completely clean by Him!
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