Today if you’re struggling with hiding your sin, it’s time to come clean. Allow the Spirit to search your life. Confess your sins to one another – you’ll be healed and set free.
Hi, I’m Joni, of Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope.
I have a friend – I will call her Nancy – who has struggled with addiction. You would never guess it, because she is a calm, composed woman who puts herself together well; who is well-liked in her church, has many friends. But Nancy deals with chronic pain. It all stems from a back injury she suffered in college. And now, years later and several surgeries later, she is struggling. For a long time she said nothing about the prescription pain relievers she was taking, after all, she was under the care of a specialist. But one day during a conversation with Nancy, she asked if I would please pray. She stammered a bit as though she did not want to confess something, seemed hesitant to say more, and so I asked her, “Nancy, what is it you want me to pray about?” She was silent for a long moment. I could tell she was debating whether or not to say more; whether or not to expose herself. I sensed her dilemma, and so I just waited and remained quiet with her. Finally, she took a deep breath and inasmuch said, “I can’t keep up this facade any longer. I’ve just got to tell someone. I am addicted, I mean really addicted to pain pills, not just because of the pain. I now take more pills than I should just to keep me going emotionally, just to you know, keep me upbeat.” Nancy continued, “I’m afraid if I don’t, Joni, I’ll fall back into depression because of my pain.”
I asked her how long she had been wrestling with this problem, and she said, “Oh my goodness, a long time! But I’ve been hiding it because I didn’t think it was that bad; I didn’t feel like I was hurting anybody, but over the last few weeks, I realize my whole life centers entirely around the timing of my pills. I panic if I miss a one or if I’m running low. I knew I was in trouble, though, when I was afraid my doctor might not refill my prescription. But now that it’s all out, now that I’ve told someone, I know I need help. So please pray as I have to share this with my family. Please, please pray I’ll be able to get through this.” Wow!
Nancy and I talked for a long time after that. I understand her struggle against pain, since I deal with it too. Before we prayed and parted company, though, I asked her how she felt, having laid it all out, having been so transparent. And what she told me touched me deeply. Nancy shared that she felt free; more free than she had felt in years; free and clean and heading in the right direction.
Oh friend, that’s what happens when we confess a bad habit, a sinful pattern or an addiction. And there’s a good reason why we feel so free and clean after we confess the error of our ways. Dietrich Bonhoeffer explained it best when he wrote in his book “Life Together”. He wrote, “Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person.” Wow! I couldn’t say it better than that. And I think you know, certainly Nancy knows what Bonhoeffer was talking about. So today if you are struggling with sin and hiding it or shielding it from others, don’t be fooled. Others probably know. Certainly the Spirit does. So allow him to search your life. Find a Christian friend with whom you can come clean. Confess your sins one to another as the Bible says, and you will be healed, and guess what, you will also be free.
© Joni and Friends