‘This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.’ Wm Shakespeare
So often the only line remembered and quoted by so many is “To thine own self be true.” What is left out is the context in which the father’s advice to the son was not to be a fake, spewing falsehoods. What is the spiritual equivalent?
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My personal saying is “If you did it, own it.” Confession is good for the soul. What I would not advise is to confess every sin to people who don’t need to hear it. That is not a self-protecting word but rather understanding that we have a ministry to protect and we should not air our dirty laundry to the enemy of Christ who will use it to try and make God the liar.
I have confessed my sins to God and to those whom God has asked me to confess in front of for the sake of my relationship with individuals, not all of mankind.
The enemy of Christ will say, “He hasn’t changed, he is a fraud.” Human nature has a tendency to condemn quickly and hold on to personal animosities rather than believing God is the final judge. If we understand that, then we should only speak to those things God has made it clear in what needs to be said.
Believers need to see who we are in Christ without knowing the full extent of just how much God has changed us. Some people have a problem with the phrase “All things are possible with God.” We can only protect our ministry to God by listening to God and be true to Him and not protect the old self which is dead in Christ.
In this world we have many unguarded moments. We toss around momentary emotions that are meaningless. We might even overhear things that are contrary to the truth as we know it. In some of those cases we were not party to the context of the conversation between others and context is missing. If we join the conversation we must be careful to remember we are admitting we are nosey and eavesdropping. What kind of approach we take doing that says more about our ministry to God and we need to follow God’s lead and not our personal feelings.
Where I live now has been a real eye opener because strangers use every opportunity to join you in a conversation you are having, or just talk to you out of the blue. Those are opportunities to be a minister to God’s grace if we remember who we serve.
Kingdom living begins at the moment of rebirth. Life begins at conception.