Psalms 32:5 NIV
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
First, we may ask what are transgressions, the definition of transgression is: an act that goes against a law, rule, or code of conduct; an offense.
Then the question is, do we move through life as if we have no sinful traits / transgressions? Can we be so arrogant to think we have no flaws that need to be confessed to God? In many cases the answer to both of those questions is yes. Yes, in many cases we do move through life as if we have no sin within us and yes, we as humans can be very arrogant and we can convince ourselves into thinking that we have nothing to confess. Which is exactly what Psalms 36:2 NIV is telling us.
Psalms 36:2 NIV
“In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.”
How often do we do this? How often do we flatter ourselves so much that we refuse to see our own sin? It’s so easy to see everyone else’s, and it’s easy to sit about talking with our friends about how horrible this person is or that person is, but how often do we sit and really think about what our sins are? Is it not a sinful nature to sit and talk about others sinful ways? Is that not judging them, and is that not a sinful nature in itself? How often do we really soul search on our own actions, our own thoughts and our own hearts?
Psalms teaches us to examine every aspect of our life to see where our sin is. This is not a practice to make us feel bad or ashamed it’s merrily a reality check and the ability to go to God, confess and ask God for healing in those areas of our life. We are human we will make mistakes and we will say, think and act on things that are not righteous but the key is understanding the importance of taking it to God and releasing it. God heals the guilt of sin just as it says in Psalms 32:5.
It is also important to understand that we must put forth the effort to turn away from that sin. When we catch ourselves with unclean thoughts, we should stop ourselves and pray right then shifting our thought process to focus on what scripture tells us. The more we do that the easier it is to drive those thoughts out of our mind and place our focus on Jesus and scripture. These actions are usually a struggle at first for many reasons. Initially it may be hard to identify our weaknesses. We just need to look at scripture and see how Jesus has told us to act and think.
One example of unclean thoughts would be the “habit” of putting ourselves down thinking we are not good enough or we are not loved. The bible rebukes both of those statements yet our minds still go there. As soon as a thought of such comes into our minds, we should shake it off and turn to scripture. So many versus in the bible tell us that God loves us and that we should love others.
Look at John 3:16 NIV “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God loved us so much that he gave his son to take away all our sins so that we could live an eternal life with Him. Take a look at Genesis 1:27 NIV “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We are all created in the image of God.
These thoughts that flood our minds are of the enemy. They are placed there by the words of others and could not be farther from the truth. Turn your thoughts into the scripture. Love yourself and love others where they are and move toward a divine life in Christ. Break those habits and turn those thoughts to God and ask for the release of guilt and shame.
Karan, A devout follower of Jesus Christ
