Home to Roost

...and be sure your sin will find you out. -Deuteronomy 32:23b

I have sinned. No surprise there.

Is it not true that we live in daily repentance? Of course we are grieved over our falling short of God's glory. It's one of the things the Spirit does for us.

But of all the grievous things, perhaps the most painful is to have a long-hidden sin surface at an inopportune time.

As in when we are admonishing with someone else over the same sin.

First comes the sickening remembrance.

Then, the inevitable and necessary "Forgive me, Father."

Do you think that God allows such sins to be covered over  by our self-righteousness and unrecognized in our deceitful hearts? And He does this so that the sting of conviction might be more acutely felt and repentance all the more immediate and sincere?

Think David as Nathan spoke, "Thou art the man!"

And I am reminded of another verse, "...let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed unless he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).

If I were to draw a conclusion from all this, I suppose that it would be:

That as we work together in Christ, confessing our sins, and sharing our struggles, we learn from each other's mistakes, always forgiving and offering encouragement to one another.

What goes around comes around, they say.

There is enough forgiveness in our Savior to go around.

And as we send it forth, may it come back to us.