Facing Truth

Facing Truth

God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8

The pastor held his Bible toward Renee. “Listen to Romans 5:8: ‘God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.’ See? When we realize we’re tired of what we’ve done, Christ is waiting for us. Right here, it says we already are loved.”

Renee shook her head. “But I’ve made stupid choices,” she said.

The pastor leaned forward. “When we concentrate on our failings instead of on the Lord’s power and grace to free us from guilt, we’re helping Satan. Because as long as we’re beating ourselves up, he doesn’t have to!” He picked up a pen and drew three interlocking circles with a stick figure in the center.

“I’m not much of an artist,” he said, “but the trapped figure is you, me, the whole human race. And these circles represent the different types of guilt: true, false, and misplaced. True guilt is what we feel when we’ve done something wrong. The only way to get rid of that nagging dread is to confess to God what we’ve done and accept his forgiveness. Sometimes that means we have to say, ‘I’m sorry, will you forgive me?’ to somebody else, first.”

Tears sprang into Renee’s eyes as she thought of the argument she’d had with her grandfather over the new lawn mower he wanted and could afford but had refused to buy. She had called him a stupid old man, and he had retorted that her entire generation was a bunch of ungrateful spendthrifts. Renee had never contacted him again. Four months later, her mother called, sobbing, to say he had died of a sudden heart attack. Instead of going to the funeral home, Renee had gone partying with classmates.

Now, in the pastor’s office, she whispered, “Yeah, but what if you can’t say you’re sorry. What if they’re dead?”

The pastor’s expression softened. “Some counselors suggest writing a letter you don’t mail or talking to an empty chair where you pretend the person is sitting. But when I’ve needed to ask forgiveness when it’s too late, I just pray—usually crying—and ask the Lord to tell them I’m sorry.”

He paused, then said, “Would you like to do that now?”

Renee shook her head. “No, but I’ll think about it.” —SANDRA

Lord, too many times I’ve failed family members, friends, myself, you. The memories of those failures shout at me even now. I hold out empty hands to you, asking for your forgiveness and your help.

From the body of one guilty deed,

A thousand ghostly fears and haunting thoughts proceed.

—WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770–1850), ENGLISH POET