There is a disdain for truth and intolerance toward correction in our culture today. Any suggestion that someone has said or done the wrong thing is met with furious anger.
Those who cannot take correction, not able to admit that they have sinned, cannot grow. Believers remain babies because they focus more on being validated than on holiness.
1 Peter 1:14-16
"13 Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy."
Often the sins that are confessed are those that are clearly seen and cannot be denied. When we see someone confessing inner sins that cannot be seen, then we have found someone who truly seeks God.
Sensitiveness to sin and conviction is a sign that we are walking in the Spirit.
Philippians 2:1-13
"1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
Those who are attempting to be good by their own power, appearing in the flesh to be seen on the outside, as good and friendly, have missed what it is to walk in the Spirit.
All our efforts to look good on the outside, while neglecting the inside, is producing pride that prevents spiritual development rather than fostering it.
Self effort, is eventually exposed when deep challenges arise that cannot be mended by human endeavor. A person who has been working hard to be what he thinks he should be, will be intensely angry when his effort fails, or he doesn't get things the way he wanted them.
Those who plan their own lives, doing things "for" God, have also missed the blessing of being led by the Spirit and eventually will fail and be exposed. The flesh becomes weary over time and cannot uphold the pretense, but Christ in us never gets weary and His work in us is unfailing and tireless.
When the Lord changes our hearts, it is a permanent change we do not suddenly revert back to old ways when the road gets rough. The tough times grieve us, but we grow through them. If someone is continually reverting back to the old ways, time after time, then we have a clue that they have been attempting to fix themselves in the flesh, rather than confessing and asking God to cleanse them.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
There is also the problem of not believing God. When we continually try to fix ourselves, it is still a matter of trusting our selves rather than trusting Christ. We don't think God can do it or He won't do it the way we want, so we the control over ourselves.
Galatians 5:16-18
"16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law."
Relinquishing control of our own will and efforts to God is the act of faith so many speak of but don't do. When we fail in this, we must confess that we have been trying to either repair ourselves, or are focused on appearances rather than true holiness.
The day we say to the Lord, that we desire to be cleansed by Him, admitting that we cannot make ourselves holy, is the day we will begin the growing process.
When we become born again, God begins the process in us of continual cleansing until He comes to take us out of this world.
Hebrews 10:14 "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
"23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
John 17:17
"17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth."
1 Corinthians 6:11
"11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."
The key to everything mentioned here is to trust Christ for our salvation and then to trust Him for our cleansing, by openness about ourselves and confession or our failings, then and only then can Christ work in us.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
May the Lord give us each a greater awareness of these principles that we learn to completely trust in Him.
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