Tag Archives: exposing sin

April 12, 2022 · 5:53 AM

A Thorough Search

When it comes to going to the doctor, I’ve got friends on two ends of the spectrum. On one end are people who don’t like to go see the doctor. They like to say, “Every time I go to the doctor, they find something wrong.” By not going, they assume the problem isn’t there and won’t go until it’s too late to be helped. On the other end, I’ve got friends who want full body scans often. They’ll say, “If there’s something going on anywhere in me, I want to know about it.” They realize that something can pop up quickly, and they want to catch it early knowing it gives them a greater chance at success in beating it.

Psalm 139 is one of those chapters many of us quote or have memorized. It starts out saying, “O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me” (AMP). God has searched each one of us and knows what’s going on in us well before we do. He is acquainted with ALL our ways. He not only knows the number of hairs on our head, but He also knows our thoughts and intents. He knows us better than we know ourselves. The psalmist understood that and began this psalm recognizing who God is, which makes it interesting that he closed the psalm by saying, “Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

The closing search is what I referred to earlier. It’s so that he would know what’s going on inside himself. He invited God to thoroughly go through the hidden places of his heart, to the dark corners of his mind and to find the skeletons in his closets so that he could be led more surely in God’s ways. It’s something each of us need to invite God to do. God already knows what He’s going to find, and He loves us anyway. It’s truly up to us to invite Him in to expose our hidden sins and intents so that we can follow Him more closely. There’s no need to fear a thorough search. He’ll forgive what gets exposed, you’ll find freedom and walk more confidently in the everlasting way.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

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June 30, 2020 · 5:56 AM

Defeating Hidden Sins

Nearly twenty years ago, I found myself sitting on the edge of my bed with a shotgun on my lap. Thoughts were racing through my head. I had been hurt badly and wanted revenge. I knew that the people were meeting at Target in about an hour. My heart was racing as I played out the scenario in my head. I thought about where I could run to or where I could hide out. Then I started thinking about what it would be like to spend the rest of my life in prison. I started to put the gun back up, but all those thoughts of pain came rushing back. “They deserve it,” I reasoned with myself. The argument went back and forth. In a split second, I put the gun in the closet, ran to my car and drove an hour away. I called a friend to meet me, gave him my keys and told him not to give them back no matter what I said.

That night scared me to death. It’s the night I realized that every sin lies within me dormant waiting for the right circumstances to bring it out. I never thought I was capable of such a thing, but that mental battle was real and it was all I could do to keep from committing it. That night I began to pay more attention to my thoughts and where I let them go. I also started to keep myself from certain situations that I thought I was immune to. Guarding my heart became something I did rather than just something I read about in the Bible. If every sin was hiding in my heart, waiting for the right moment and circumstances to align, I needed to be more cautious.

David must have had one of those moments too. In Psalm 19:12, he prayed, “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults” (NLT). He found out that every one of us are capable of any sin, but he also knew that the remedy was knowing God’s Word and seeking Him for help. In verse 11, referencing God’s Word, he wrote, “They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.” The Bible is a lamp and a light (Psalm 119:105). It exposes hidden sins, faults and thoughts, as well as it shows you what to do. Jesus used the Word of God to keep from sinning as He was tempted. It’s a powerful weapon in our arsenal against sin, but you can only be equipped with it if you know it. Don’t fall prey to the hidden sins in your heart. Be proactive by putting God’s Word in your heart so that you won’t sin against Him (Psalm 119:11).

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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November 27, 2019 · 5:49 AM

Dropping Stones

One of the shows we like to watch as a family is “Nailed It”. The show brings on people who barely cook and has them try to replicate a master chef’s creations in small amounts of time. The failures keep us and the judges laughing while the contestants take it in stride. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s something in all of us that somehow gets joy when others fail. Whether it’s someone at the office, a sports team that’s doing well or a well known leader. I’ve read several articles about the psychology behind it, but no one can nail it down as to why. Ultimately, it either means we get ahead or they were not as great as we made them out to be and it makes us feel good about our own shortcomings.

In John 8, a group of religious leaders were trying to make Jesus fail while exposing a woman’s failure. They brought her into the temple getting everyone’s attention and took her straight to Jesus. They reminded Him that the Law of Moses said that they should stone this woman for adultery. With stones in their hands, they asked Him what He thought. Instead of jumping in with the rest of the crowd being excited about taking down this woman who had failed, Jesus simply started writing in the dirt. They demanded He answer. They were ready to kill her. Jesus stood up in verse 7 and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (NLT) One by one, they dropped their stones as Jesus went back to writing in the dirt. The on,y one who had the ability to throw the stone, didn’t.

Instead of throwing stones and making fun of people who have failed, we should help them find forgiveness. Instead of laughing that they got caught and were exposed, think about how you would feel if your private sins were exposed in such a manner. Galatians 6:1 tells us, “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.” Instead of trying to make them feel worse or to push them further away from God, we have a responsibility to help them the way Jesus helped this woman. All of us have sinned and fall short. None of us deserve grace, yet Jesus set the example we should follow by giving it. We’re in the restoration business as Christians. Let’s act like it.

Photo by Sean Stratton on Unsplash

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June 20, 2017 · 5:37 AM

A Spiritual Examination 


I’ve got a friend who doesn’t like to go to the doctor. He says, “Every time I go, they find something wrong.” Isn’t that the point? If there’s something wrong, wouldn’t you want to know about it? For some people, if the problem isn’t exposed, it doesn’t exist. So if they don’t go to doctor and have the tests run, they aren’t really sick. That’s the wrong way to think about things. If you have a sickness and there’s a cure, wouldn’t you want that sickness exposed so the disease doesn’t run its course?

To some of you, what I just described sounds crazy. Others of you can identify with it. Whichever side you’re on, the truth is that many of us think the way my friend does when it comes to sin in our lives. We don’t want to shed light on it or expose it, much less have a test run to prove it exists in our body. If there’s something wrong spiritually with you, wouldn’t you want to know about it? Wouldn’t you want to get it cured?

David fell into the group that wanted to go to the doctor often and have tests run to make sure nothing was wrong. In Psalm 26:2 he prayed, “Examine me, GOD, from head to foot, order your battery of tests. Make sure I’m fit inside and out” (MSG). He wasn’t afraid to have God shine His light into every dark corner of his life. He knew that sin likes to lay hidden in our lives unexposed. It tells us to pretend we are perfect and nothing is wrong. The truth is that all of us are infected with sin, and the way we rid ourselves of it is to expose it to the light of God’s Word.

If we truly want to live the lives God has called us to, we can’t be afraid to go to The Doctor and have Him test our lives. God will not condemn us for having Him expose our sins. Instead, He will be faithful to forgive us and to lead us down His paths. We can’t be afraid that He will find something wrong with us or what others will think. There’s a cure for the sin that’s holding us back and it’s free. Jesus already paid the price for our sin and has written out the prescription. Ask God today to examine you so you can be fit inside and out.

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August 27, 2014 · 6:14 AM

A Lover Of God’s Presence

On my last trip to Haiti, our group sang a song by Jesus Culture called “I’m a lover of your presence”. The part in the song that stands out to me says, “I’m a lover of your presence and it’s all I wanna be.” I can still hear our voices calling out into the night sky to God how much we love His presence. It became my prayer then and I still pray it today. I don’t want to live a day without walking in God’s presence. I know it’s possible and that God wants that relationship with us too.

Adam walked in God’s presence each night in the garden. Abraham lived in God’s presence according to genesis 24:40. Enoch also walked daily with God. Moses spent so much time in God’s presence that his face became bright. He had to wear a veil because it was too bright for the people to look at him. David loved God’s presence so much they he wanted to build a house for Him to dwell in. Peter spoke of the times of refreshment that come from the presence of The Lord. The Bible is full of examples of people who spent time in God’s presence.

If they can do it, you and I can do it. You may be thinking, “Yeah, but those were saints and holy men in the Bible. I’m just me.” Each of the people I listed above and the many more that you will find in the Bible who spent time in God’s presence were ordinary, flawed people just like you and me. The difference was that they took time to be in God’s presence each day. They knew they were unworthy of it, but they trusted God’s grace enough to enter His presence.

They knew that when they stood before God, in His presence, even their hidden sins would be exposed. Yet they entered it anyway. Why? Because they knew that the only way to get sin out of their life is to expose it to God. They knew that it was a good thing to get it out. But somehow, our minds think that we shouldn’t enter His presence because of our sins. We use that as an excuse to stay away from His presence. We cannot buy into that lie!

That’s just like people I know who won’t go to the doctor. I ask them why they won’t and they answer, “Because every time I go, they find something wrong.” They see it as a negative thing when a doctor finds something wrong. I see it as a good thing. If there’s something wrong in me, I want to find it quickly and have it dealt with. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Dealing with it does. Being in God’s presence forces us to deal with what’s wrong in our lives. We should want to have Him find what’s wrong so we can get forgiveness and move into a closer relationship with Him. Find time today to spend in His presence.

If you’d like to listen to the song on YouTube, you can click here.

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March 10, 2014 · 7:44 AM

Exposing Your Weakness

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Last week, a mentor of mine posted a video of himself working out. He held a barbell above his head and squatted multiple times. He then moved over to a chin up bar and did several chin ups. After that he went back to the barbells. He repeated the process until he couldn’t go on. I watched as he began to struggle. His arms twitched. He had to refocus and retry a few times as he got wore out. Finally, he stopped and walked off the mat. His caption said, “One thing Crossfit does, it exposes weakness in areas you might have thought you were strong in. But I love it!”

That phrase stuck out to me. Most of us want nothing to do with having our weaknesses exposed. We like to keep them hidden from others and pretend they don’t exist. We like to focus on areas where we’re strong and show that side to the world. We like to put our best foot forward and rarely let others see who we completely are. We’re afraid others won’t like us as much or will look down on us. Fear plays a big role in keeping our weaknesses covered up. Unfortunately, that fear is what keeps us from being more of the person God wants us to be.

Knowing what your weaknesses are and putting them in the open has a lot of benefits. First, knowing your weaknesses gives you direction and focus. It shows you exactly what you need to work on. Just because you are weak in an area of your life, it doesn’t mean you can’t get strong there. Don’t fall for the lie that it’s just who you are or it’s just in your nature. You are only weak in areas of your life to the extent that you allow yourself to be. You have the power to get strong in those areas if only you will push yourself. When you do, you will find other areas of weakness. Simply repeat the process.

Another benefit to exposing weakness is that it opens you up to accountability. As long as you hide your weakness, it will eat away at you and hold you hostage. The moment you expose it and ask others to help, you set yourself free. You are free from the mind games it has played with you and used to keep you down. You are free to work on that area and to get help. When you allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to say to someone else, “Here’s where I’m weak. I need you to hold me accountable and to help me beat it,” you begin to turn that weakness into a strength. You begin to take control over it instead of letting it have control over you.

In Psalm 139:24-24, David prayed to God and said, “Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; cross-examine me and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about… then guide me on the road to eternal life.” David understood this principle. He asked God to test him and to expose his weaknesses so that he could be guided on the road to eternal life. Each one of us have areas of weakness. Each one of us fail God in our lives. But not each one of us dare to ask God to expose it and then to guide us to a deeper walk with Him. Take that first step today and ask God to expose your weaknesses. Then find an accountability partner to help you strengthen that area. You’ll be glad you did.

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