What price are you paying?

This is the 3^rd of a blogpost series on “Transformational growth for the small business leader”.

As our weekly business leaders’ call wrapped up I was struck, moved… humbled. 

Yes, that’s it, humbled.  Humbled by the clear demonstration again of what happens when leaders choose to bow their egos before the One who made them and operate from a posture of humility. True confessions of their fundamental human need to replace sinful compulsions (the idol of self) with the very person and presence of Christ.

Confession and humility go hand in hand like 2 sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other.

King David, in Psalm 32 NLT, helps us sink into the reality of living life without rich, deep, meaningful confession to God and to one another. I’m guessing that you know what this feels like… when you have chosen your ego over submission to Christ. 

“When I refused to confess my sin,     
my body wasted away,      
and I groaned all day long.
Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.     
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.”

Does David’s language sound familiar? It does for me.

David is also clear on what happens when we do confess. I also hope you have wonderfully experienced the freedom in Christ that comes from rich, humble confession with Him and with those around you. Do the words in Psalm 32 NLT sound familiar? I really hope so!

Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

Richard Foster speaks strongly about the impact when we stop pretending and clearly declare our deep need to humble ourselves, confess and provide the needed space for the Holy Spirit to change and transform us.

Refuse to confess and waste away, groan, carry a heavy burden.  Humbly confess and have joy, forgiveness, cleared of guilt and a living in complete honesty!  Which do you choose?

A Deliberate Application:

• When is the last time you humbled yourself and confessed?
• Are you paying the profound, unnecessary price of “refusing to confess your sin”?
  • physically, mentally, emotionally “wasting away”, “groaning”
  • feeling God’s “heavy hand of discipline on” you
  • your “strength evaporating like water in the summer heat”?
• Decide to wait no longer and confess.
• Gather, appropriately, a community to whom you can confess. James 1:9 NIV
• Embrace and enjoy the truth of Christ – NO condemnation.  Romans 8:1 NIV

DeliberateU-TUBE:

See stories of transformation where God is at work in the marketplace.