Sincerity in Prayer
we come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced that nothing will keep us at a distance from him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity, and we have been freed from an accusing conscience. Now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out!
Repent. It sounds like such a harsh and negative word, doesn’t it? One that pictures the image of a television pastor angrily shouting and pointing a finger in the face of a shame-filled congregation. The way many of us have come to understand repentance is one furious religious person demanding guilt and humiliation from another who has made a misstep in their journey with God.
But that is not what God intended when it comes to repentance. Sharing our struggles and our sins with Him was not meant to be an act of punishment, but rather one of love. That is why Christianity is about relationship and not religion. Repentance brings out into the open everything He already knew was there. It gives Him the chance to shine a light on the dark crevices of our hearts, mind, and soul. It tells Him we trust Him with the worst parts of ourselves and it allows Him to do the work of transforming us from the inside, out.
It’s good we get real with God and be sincere with Him. God wants that because He has called us into a relationship with Him. He knows everything about us and in spite of it all, still loves us so deeply. But the more we allow shame and guilt to hide our struggles, the more we can see ourselves become less engaged in in our relationship with Him.
Each one of us has areas in our lives that we need to keep being honest with God about. However, it is important to know that God’s mercy is constant, and overwhelm into those places that get clogged up by our sin, our selfishness, and our pride. God is always ready to hug us in mess, clean us up and get us going again.
