Living His WordMuestra

One of the key assumptions of the Christian life is that the Bible tells it like it really is. The Bible does not deal with a reality other than the one we actually live in. Its stories are not fictional and its wisdom cuts directly to the quick. Confronting the Word of God written in the Bible is like looking in a mirror and seeing what you actually look like, warts and all (James 1:23-24).

That’s why the Bible does not shy away from the reality of sin and evil. The Bible is not trying to impress anybody, or stay on their good side, or sweep things under the rug. It does not avoid the ugly things of life; but rather teaches us how to deal with them. And one of the first ugly things we must deal with, if not the first thing, is that we are sinners. We live in a universe designed and created by God, and we fall short of His original intentions.

The Apostle John makes no bones about it. If we claim to be without sin, we’re deceiving ourselves. We’re devoid of truth, we’re calling the designer and creator of the universe a liar and the Word of God is not in us. One might legitimately add here that we’re avoiding reality as it actually is, and we’re cutting ourselves off from any hope of returning to reality.

If we’re willing to face reality, however, if we’re willing to look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word, then the way is opened to the solution to our ugliness: confession. “Confession is good for the soul,” the saying goes. And so it is, because it leads to God’s cleansing. God has provided the means of cleansing through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

But that work doesn’t benefit us until we confront the reality of our ugliness and are willing to own up to it in confession.