Praise God For Exposed Sin!

The exposing of hidden sin is a great thing for the life of the Christian. Something to even rejoice in! There are so many sins that lie dormant in our lives, but God in his work to sanctify us doesn’t allow them to remain. Praise God! In his love, many a times he brings us to our knees through trial or external pressure to reveal these hidden sins.

What are the benefits?

Repentance: We may go before the Lord humbly asking his forgiveness and rejoicing in the work of Christ on the cross and knowing peace with God.

Love: Our love for Christ grows as we realize more and more how undeserving we are of His love.

Humility: The exposure of our sin reminds us again that we are incapable of anything good outside of the work of Christ in us.

Dependence and Prayer: As we see our sin exposed and feel the pain of it, we find no strength over it other than going again to God, pleading for His continued work in us.

Love of Others: We are slower to judge harshly the sinfulness of others and more likely to love them and hurt for them.

The Word: Along with prayer, it drives us back to the promises in God’s Word. Seeking strength in knowing the truth. Seeking power over sin through the reading and meditation on it.

Pilgrim Perspective: Feeling the pain of sin and the weariness of the fight against it, we desire Christ’s return all the more and to be done with this world. We see that this is not our home nor do we want it to be. We move forward serving God more and ourselves less.

May we always be willing and regularly pray that God would expose our sin. May our hearts desire God and His glory more than our own. May we be willing to be weak, that his strength may be shown.

What can we do about marriages?

Paul Tripp’s answer to the question:

“A) Pray. Don’t just pray for outside the church; pray for the church. B) We need to teach, teach, teach, teach, teach. I think if you’re in a fairly good-sized evangelical Bible-believing church, there ought to be a marriage class every Sunday-School quarter. There ought to be marriage curriculums for folks in small groups. Pastors ought to be preaching on this issue. There ought to be counseling help available. Mature believers ought to be getting with young couples and talking about their experiences and sharing wisdom. We’ve just got to fight for this issue. It is a huge threat to the vitality of the church, and it needs to be a priority.”

Messy Marriages in the Hands of a Gracious God
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2009/04/12/messy-marriages-in-hands-of-gracious/