This friend is Catholic and she was telling me a little story about going to confession with her children. Although we don't practice confession in a formal way at our church, I realized maybe I have become too complacent about this important part of our faith. My friend reminded me to take more seriously what all Christians are supposed to do in prayer--confess our sins.
My prayers have become urgent requests scribbled to God, shoved into the barrel of pneumatic tube bottle and whooshed into celestial heights. Then I wait for a quick return of God's answer and I get impatient when he takes his time. My friend said that nowadays at her church most people have a face-to-face confession with the priest. I think I need a heart-to-heart with God in prayer, a conversation with him, not a drive-through bank transaction.
Confession shouldn't be a time to beat ourselves up and be depressed over all we haven't done right. Rather it should be a time to re-focus, find our way back, and let God know we are aware we've gotten off track. Then we ask for his forgiveness, and, of course, he always forgives and restores us. "If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:8, 9.
My Catholic friend takes the commandment to keep the Sabbath a little more seriously than I sometimes do. This has bothered me for some time that I may be missing the mark. Surely God commanded the Sabbath for a reason and expects us to keep his word. We attend church on Sunday morning. But is there more to it than that? I think so.
Thank you, friend, for enlightening me.
No comments:
Post a Comment