“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
– Romans 3:23
 Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, never at any point says to confess your sins. So I want to be careful here because confessing your sins is important. James tells us to do it and John tells us to do it, but most of the framing of the Gospel as we preach it as evangelicals is based on the writings of Paul. And Paul, although he says we are sinners, he never says to confess we’re sinners. Instead, He tells us to confess we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And that is very different. Some of us have had our most unique Christian experiences when we beat ourselves up and we reinforce shame. We say, Oh I’m so terrible, I’m so bad, I’m so this, I’m so that. That’s exactly where the enemy wants you! He is called the accuser of the brethren for a reason. When you accuse yourself and put yourself down, you are aligning yourself with the voice of hell. But when you say I am the righteousness of Christ (Which is what the Bible says), you are aligning yourself with the voice of heaven. You are aligning yourself with the citizenship of God’s city, which says you are the victor and not the loser. |
Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for Paul. Thank you for his wisdom and his teachings. Guide me to realign myself with the way you see me, rather than the way the world may see me.
Reflection
How can you align your voice with heaven?
