Quick Thought

I was thinking this morning about some sad and difficult discussions I have had with certain people over the last couple of years. When a sinful pattern surfaced, there were always certain things that seemed to follow..."But I was angry.""We were in love, so it was ok.""I had a hard day at work.""My family life was rotten.""I deserve to have fun and be happy.""You did the same thing! No, wait, a worse thing!""You just don't understand.""It's not my fault.""I didn't do anything wrong."Excuses for sin and brokenness over sin can never coexist.The denial of sin does not erase it.As long as I offer a "plausible" reason for my disobedience, I am not truly repentant.As long as I avoid apologizing to those I have hurt by my words or actions, I avoid real repentance. I may say, "I made it right with God, so I don't need to apologize to them." But that attitude reveals that, in reality, I have not made it right with God.As long as I avoid repentance, I avoid growth, grace and fellowship with God.The apology based upon my own reasoning tries to get me off the hook, but succeeds in driving the barb deeper; true repentance admits you're stuck, by your own doing, and asks God to pull you free.Is. 66:2 But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.Ps. 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.2 Cor. 7:9-10 I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.