By: Emma Seay
Pride. Greed. Lust. Jealousy. Anger. Anxiety. I could go on and on about several sins that have plagued my heart and mind over the last few months. Now it could seem easy for me to keep confessing all of these things that I have struggled with, especially behind the comfort of a computer screen.
But one thing that the Lord has made me aware of throughout all of this is how I struggle with vulnerability: opening up to the people around me and not just telling them a few struggles but everything. Like every single ungodly thought or temptation. These include fears and some of those “non-Christlike” feelings that you feel if you just hold on tight enough that they would disappear. I have had those.
But we need to learn to willingly give over these temptations and these struggles that we cling to so tightly because no matter how ashamed we may be of how the Devil has influenced our thoughts, we need to remember that we are forgiven and that we need to release our grasp on ungodly things.
Release. It is a word that we associate with the aspect of feeling peace and rest and restoration, most importantly, restoration of our relationship with Christ, our Redeemer. The one that forgives instantly whenever we ask for it. Did you catch that?
Instantly. The King of Glory, our King wants to restore our relationship with Him every single time we sin against Him instantly. Our responsibility as humans in the scandalous relationship between us and the Lord is to ask for His forgiveness. However, since we are never able to compare ourselves to God, we seek our relationship with Him through the people around us that love Him, but are also on our level as sinners. We call this discipleship.
2 Corinthians 2:10-11 says, “Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are unaware of his schemes.”
In the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul is writing to the people of Corinth in a second, follow-up letter to 1 Corinthians. He explains that he is proud of the people for repenting and confessing their sins and for wanting to improve their relationship with God. In these two verses, Paul speaks highly about forgiveness. More specifically, he discusses the need of forgiveness between us and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
So if we have the ability to love and forgive our siblings in Christ (which isn’t easy), being vulnerable with one another is something, especially as young adults, that we should strive for because that is how we learn and grow in our independent walks with Christ and our walks with Christ guided by the other believers around us.
The Lord blesses the presence of community. He created us to be relational and to be emotionally attached to the people around us. Romans 12:4-5 says, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
God created community for us to form into one body, the church. He has called us to come together so that we can each worship and glorify Him with each of our own specific gifts and talents, however in order to come together, we must learn to also come clean to one another about things that are hindering us from influencing His Kingdom so that we can learn from one another and form accountability that can help us achieve our goal: To grow closer in our relationship with the Lord and to proclaim His word to the nations.
