Read Psalm 32:1-4

My mother’s number one method in raising my siblings and I was that every one of our choices had consequences; whether good or bad, something was going to come from it. 

It’s something that Jake and I are striving to train Mattie in. Now, yes, he is three years old, but even now the discussions we often have with him are the consequences he has to face based on the choices he makes. Just today, after much conversation about him holding his balloon tightly so it wouldn’t fly away, he chose to let go. The consequence he had to face was that of losing his balloon and then sadness (parenting hack: stay away from helium filled balloons).

Now did he completely understand what was happening, I don’t know. However, it’s the consistent conversation we have with him because just as I learned from my mother, I want it to be ingrained in him, that every choice we make has some sort of consequence. 

The Lord also consistently has this conversation with us through His Word.

We read David’s heart in Psalm 32 that he is grateful for the Lord’s forgiveness but brings forth the fact that hiding his sin and not bringing it before the Lord was causing despair, was causing a slow kind of death. 

We read in James 1 that sin brings forth spiritual death.

I don’t know about you but there have been times in my life, knowing the truth that I still chose to hide my sin struggle from the Lord, even though He already knows. I am pretty open about my struggle of comparison, it’s my biggest sin struggle. I can pick myself apart and compare every part to someone else and in doing that I begin to believe that I am not good enough. That someone how God made a mistake when creating me.

There I sit, in sorrow and sadness because I don’t look like someone else or have the fashion sense of this person, or the quietness of that…there are days I could go on and on.

In doing that, I sin. Because I’m looking at the Lord telling Him “you made a mistake” …fully knowing with all my heart the truth and fact of His love and care for me and that He doesn’t make mistakes. 

But as I sit there and I let the lies sink more and more into my mind, and I don’t make the effort to surrender, seek truth and go before the Lord in repentance. I slowly but surely separate myself more and more from God and His best which results in spiritual decay. 

So, when we hide our sin, the consequence is that we sacrifice His best for what is our version of good. 

How many choices have you made that you needed to repent for? How many choices came with consequences that you wish you could change? 

You know what beauty is, however, because of Jesus fills the gap.

May we choose to surrender, may we choose to repent, so that the consequence of our hidden sin can be redemption and not despair!

Kelly Lawson