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For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful to even speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:8-16

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Devils Playground

If you have hidden sin in your life, I will wager that you are also prideful and critical of others, and perhaps arrogant as well. In fact, conversely, if you are prideful, arrogant, and critical of others, I’ll wager that you have hidden sin in your life. Come to the light while there is still time. Don’t wait until God does it for you. I can guarantee you that if He does it, it will be much more painful than if you do it first. And don’t wait until sin has permeated every part of your life and you find yourself deep into the ugly process outlined in Romans 1:21-28. If you have waited this long, chances are that it will have to be God that brings your sin to the light because by this point your conscience has been seared and you are in full denial of your spiritual state. And “if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out” (Nm 32:23). I speak from painful experience.

But take warning. Once you have made this decision to come to the light, know that every remnant of selfishness, pride, and sin is going to be exposed to you. The intense light of God will expose every corner of your heart. Go with it. Let it happen and rejoice in this and remain humble because this is the beginning of God’s process of cleansing your inner man. Love the light and embrace it, even though it means that your true self will be unmasked not only to you but also to everyone you are close to.

Allow me to paraphrase John 3:19-21 and apply it to my former life to illustrate the contrast of life before and after coming to the light: and this is the judgment, that the light had come into my world, but I loved darkness rather that the light, for my deeds were evil. For I was practicing sin and hated the light so I would not come to the light, lest my deeds would be exposed. But now I practice the truth and have come to the light, that my deeds would be in the light, that they are done in God.

Before you come to the light, you must come into reality about where you are spiritually. If you are in habitual sin you are very likely to be in denial about your spiritual state. You must be real with God. I kept myself hyped up in a false sense of godliness, which kept me buried under the burden of unconfessed sin. This, in turn, plunged me deeper into the delusion about my spirituality. If you believe that you are in pretty good shape spiritually, chances are you will not see your need for change. This is pure arrogance at its worst. Again, I know what I’m talking about. I was there. It is no wonder that James says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up” (Jas 4:6b-10).

But how do we resist the devil? As one who was under the bondage of habitual sin, this sounded absurd to me. But really, as I can see now so clearly, it is quite simple. Remain in the light, that all your deeds be exposed. Darkness is the devil’s playground, and he hates the light. He is like a cockroach that runs for cover when the light switch is flipped on. John tells us that “if we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 Jn 1:6). If we have unconfessed sin in our lives, we walk in darkness. There is a shadowy veil that covers us, and therefore we are not walking in light. We are practicing a lie and not practicing the truth. “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). If our sins are confessed, we walk in light. There is no hidden shame or guilt because we have confessed and repented and remain in fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

According to the above verses, it is not until we walk in the light by confessing and repenting (meaning true repentance) that the blood of Christ will cleanse us from all sin. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8). If you can believe it, I was convinced that my sin was not sin. I had deceived myself into believing that pornography was not real but only images on a glossy page of a magazine or an electronic image on a TV or computer screen, so therefore I was not really lusting in my heart for another woman. I said I had no sin, and the truth was not in me. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). It is not until we admit our sin by being truthful with ourselves and then confessing it to others that Christ will not only forgive us of them but begins His cleansing work within us. He will not give us truth in the inward parts until we have purged it of lies and deceit.

As I learned, for people to enable themselves to live with unconfessed sin, they must shroud themselves in darkness. The dweller in darkness lives in fear of discovery and in self-rejection and guilt. Any light shed that threatens discovery is condemning. But when we “walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 Jn 1:6b).

If we have sin we must bring it into the light. If you don’t really want to get rid of your sin, confess it only to God. But if you are truly sick of your sin and want to be free of it and “cleansed of all unrighteousness,” confess it to other brothers or sisters in Christ also. There is healing in confession; “…Confess your sins to one another…so that you may be healed” (Jas 5:16, NASB). “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Prv 28:13).