thoughts from "No Light, No Light" by Florence + the Machine‏

Florence and her machine provided fodder for thought again today when I heard her say,

Would you leave me,
If I told you what I've done?
And would you need me,
If I told you what I've become?
'cause it's so easy,
To say it to a crowd
But it's so hard, my love,
To say it to you out loud

My mind was provoked back upon the teaching I just received this previous weekend by Bob Thune when he discussed counterfeit change and the confessional culture of our community/connection groups.

I thought about our prayer requests.

When we are not offering up sentiments about relative’s health problems and vague spiritual difficulties, we default to catch-all requests. You know,

“Please pray for my pride.”

“Please pray for my lust.”

We like telling groups of people we are struggling as long as we get to do so in a manner that inspires sympathy and deflects accountability.

We like people to know that we know that we are sinners.

We do not want anybody to know the specificity in which we fail and fall short.

I am chief of this.

I am the worst.

And I hate that about myself.

I hate that cowardice in me that is scared of men’s opinions and distrusting of God’s promises.

I hate that pride in me that refuses to be vulnerable before men in order to be sanctified by God.

I’m with Florence on this one.

It is scary.

It is difficult.

It is something I would like to avoid.

I don’t want to say the words.

I can muster up a “lust or pride” with the best of them, but to name the time, place, and context of my failure without excuse.

That is hard work.

That is denying myself.

All of myself.

I, like Florence, worry what you may think of me if you knew me.

Would you love me if you knew?

Would you stay if you knew?

I worry because I know I reject people for less than I am asking them to accept me.

If we miss the tension here, if we miss this difficult, faithful work, we miss the Gospel.

You want a revelation,
You wanna get it right
But, it's a conversation,
I just can't have tonight
You want a revelation
Some kind of resolution
Tell me what you want me to say.

Repent.

Whatever it is.

Be specific.

Do not make excuses.

Admit it

Repent of it.

Agree with God.

AND

Believe.

Place your faith on Christ.

Believe your confession does not disqualify you from faith.

Have faith that He is faithful to His promise to forgive our confession.

Agree with God that His Son is sufficient for you.

The Good News is that we are:

Forgiven to forgive.

Loved to love.

Known to make known.

AND

We are known, forgiven, and loved even now as we fall short again of perfectly forgiving, loving, and making Him known if by confession, repentance and faith we affirm in Him alone that we are righteous.