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MEDITATION:

Written by Laura Georgakakos, a contemporary editor, writer, and speaker. This is an excerpt from her book “Grace Notes.”

After missing a shot in an important water polo game, my son angrily yelled at himself, “You idiot!” and was promptly thrown out of the game for misconduct. “I was talking to myself!” he protested to the ref. “You were disrespecting a player in this game. You are a player, are you not?” And out he went. How do you respond when you mis a shot? Does your reaction take you out of the game? Mind did recently. I had asked the Lord to show me anything in me that needed confessing. And then He did! And I was so surprised and distraught by what He showed me that instead of taking it right to Him in confession, I curled up in shame and for days refused even to look in His direction. When my eyes dropped from Who God is and settled firmly onto who I am in my sin, my prayer life and effectiveness for the Lord came to a grinding halt. Days later, with eagerness and relief, I was able to hurry to Him in confession only when I remembered that God’s love for me is undiminished by my sin; His love for me is not linked to my performance.

If you make a mistake do you get locked into regret? Where do you allow your thoughts to settle? We need to be as quick and careful to force our minds away from dwelling on our confessed sin as we are quick to turn our minds from inappropriate sexual thoughts or hateful thoughts of others. All are equally unworthy of God, all are equally unfaithful and dishonorable to Him. When the Lord shows us something unlovely in ourselves, it can be tempting to give in to hopelessness or self-recrimination or breast beating. But we have to keep our focus on Him and remind ourselves of Who He is. His ways are not our ways. The Lord points out our faults not with the voice of condemnation but with the compassionate intention of empowering us to overcome them. He is reaching out a hand and offering to pull us up to a new level of living without that particular encumbrance. His pointing it out to us now says, “It is time. You are ready to face this. Together, My hand in yours, let’s lay it down.” May each revelation of our sin lead us into immediate confession, and then praise at Who He is and at His great love rather than despair over how unfit we are for that love, or how undeserving. Be faithful to confess. As soon as we do so, He has moved on and He graciously invites us to do the same. Let us not hang back in regret, but keep in step with Him Who is our Life.

PRAYER:

Written by Laura Georgakakos, author of today’s meditation.

Father, help me to trust Your love for me and to rest in it. Protect me from the enemy who so longs to entrap me in despair and hopelessness. May I be quick to confess what You bring to my mind and to leave that sin behind as I walk on with You in new life. Amen.