Journal Entry ~ 03/17/18

12 "Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 

13 and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.  - Joel 2:12-13

God is calling us to return to Him with all of our hearts - He is calling us to repent. We cannot truly repent until we see our sin the way God sees our sin. The reality is we all have have blind spots. Our hearts are so deceptive that we cover the truth about who we really are or why we really do things. Sometimes we know we’re doing it, but we’ve been doing it so long that we can no longer see what is true, and sometimes we just have no idea that a sin issue exists in our lives. We’ve been doing it since we were small children. I see it as I work with kids every day - kids routinely lie about why they did something because they don’t want to get in trouble or they don’t want to be confronted about how they truly feel. As, adults, we are the same. 

We’ll be passive aggressive in a conversation, but won’t admit to it because we would never act that way. We won’t even see how the tone of our words impact others because we’re too busy processing our frustration with the situation or the other person in our own heads, and we don’t want to appear as if it bothers us. Lies. Or perhaps the faults of others around us - our spouses or our siblings or our co-workers - are so loud that we can’t help but consistently point them out. The enemy is crafty as he highlights the sin of others so well that ours seem minimal by comparison. Lies. Or maybe we’ll take control of a situation instead of considering the needs of others first, but won’t see the way we made others feel because we’re just so convinced our plan is best. Lies. Our pride and our culture has us thinking not only are we right, but also that we have the right to convince everyone else that our opinion is best. Even our husbands. We judge and point fingers, we dismiss people or we mock them when they don’t do what we feel is right. All lies. 

The truth is we all have sin issues we cannot see.  If you don’t see that, there’s your sin issue. Start with prayer, ask God to reveal your sin issues to you and then to break you over your sin by allowing you to see your sin the way He sees it. He will. It won’t be easy, but He will. 

One way He will give us eyes to see our sin for what it is, is through conversations with other people about your sin. Ask the closest people in your life to help you see your sin issues, then sit quietly and listen. I repeat - sit quietly and just listen. Don’t interrupt or defend, just listen. 

We can’t see these blind spots as others can. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to see the sin issues of others in your life?  Spouses and siblings know us best, and though they are the hardest to ask, they will give you the greatest truth. People who have known us a long time, or the people who live closest to us know us the best. Listen to what they say - God uses them to reveal such truth to you. The problem is it often comes out only during arguments, when the pressure boils the negativity out of their hearts, but there is truth in what comes out. Perhaps it’s not always said in the kindest way possible, but there is truth. So try asking your spouse or your siblings or a close friend about your sin issues in a moment when you’re calm - what do you see as my sin issues?  They don’t even need to be a Godly person - God can still use them to reveal your sin issues. Grab a pen and just listen. God will use those moments to open your eyes to things you have not seen about your heart. 

We cannot return to the Lord, unless we repent of our sin. We need others in our lives to help us to see our sin. 

Press on ~ you are loved 💗