“KEEPIN IT REAL” WITH GOD
According to the Urban Dictionary, “Keepin it real” means staying true to your ” roots ” (i.e.,”GOD”) or your priorities or principles as a person and applying to a certain type of an event or situation.
Keepin it real with God.God is not limited. He has supreme power over all things and unlimited knowledge of all truth in every potential situation, whether before the beginning, in the middle, or at the ending under all possible interpretations of any component in any dimension. He knows everything that will or does happen.
We cannot hide from Him.
Psalm 139: 7-10 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
God is eternal, perfect, and unchangeable. He is a spiritual being. He is not matter. He has always existed and transcends time and space. He is present everywhere. He is not the sun, moon, or stars. He is not an image of wood, stone, or metal.
He is all powerful. Nothing is impossible or too difficult for God because He has an infinite ability to meet every need.
Malachi 3:6 I the Lord do not change. He is unchangeable. He always has been and will always be. Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.
God will not be shaped into any human-made image, idea, or likeness. He is as He has always been. He is the great “I am”. God can see and interact with everything that happens in our universe. He can act at any time He chooses.
Hiding from God is not an option.
I am often perplexed with some of the happenings in my house. These mysterious events seem to occur when the grandkids are around. For example, this last week I found two empty scotch tape dispensers lying on the living room floor. Four of the grandsons were sitting around the living room couches with their faces glued to tablets. Something was hanging from the ceiling. After checking it out, I wasn’t sure if it was an art project or a science experiment. It was some plastic bottle thing with strands of something hanging from it.
I got no response from the inhabitants of the room when I began questioning the hows and whys of the event. NO ONE had any knowledge or information. Upon more intensive questioning, I got two responses. “I don’t know” and “I didn’t do it”. Confession is not just difficult when we are children.
“Confess”: Admit wrong doing; take personal responsibility for wrong doing. Confession is admitting and taking responsibility, for what we did that we shouldn’t have. Confession is an act of our own free will.
There’s a story about Mark Twain that talks about one time when he was on vacation for three weeks in Maine, and then headed home on the train to New York. As he was making himself comfortable, he struck up a conversation with another passenger. The man asked him if he had been in the woods. Twain replied, “I have indeed, and let me tell you something: It may be closed for fishing up here in Maine, but I have a couple hundred pounds of the finest rock bass you ever saw iced down in the baggage car. By the way, who are you, sir?” The man replied, “I’m the state game warden. Who are you?” Twain answered, “Pleased to meet you. Who am I? Only the biggest liar in these United States.” Just like Twain, we often get uncomfortable about confessing our wrongdoings.
What’s the one thing you’ve done that nobody else can ever know about? The mere thought inspires a hard swallow and a pounding heart. Rest at ease. There are now quick and convenient, anonymous ways to deal with those nagging sins of yours: cyberspace confessions. If you have sin in your life and you don’t want to confess it to somebody, you can go to one of these websites and post it there, and the slate will be wiped clean.
Or, there’s a web site, www.PostSecret.com that will allow you to send in a postcard that allows you to draw a picture of whatever sin it is that you need to confess. Just include a statement of the issue that you need to reveal, and it is required that you keep it anonymous. These mail-in confessions are then posted on this website where others can read about your transgressions. Here are some sample statements that were posted on this site: “I removed the book jackets from trashy novels so that I look more sophisticated. Sometimes at night I fantasize about what I’d wear to a loved one’s funeral. I wish my daughter loved me. People think I enjoy being alone, but I am lonely.” So not only do we get to confess our sins anonymously, but we also hear and read about the sins of others, and feel better about ourselves.
But as Christians, keepin it real looks a little different than the world’s solution to confession.
1 John 1: 5-10 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Confession allows us to come out of our hiding and creates a clean relationship with God. Why else would confessing our sin to God be necessary? After all, He knows our every thought and our every deed, even before we think or do them. It’s not as though our confessions would be a startling revelation to Him. So why is it necessary? Confession is necessary because it allows us to try to close that gap between us and God that our sin has created. Christ has already taken the first step toward closing that gap through His death on the cross and His resurrection. But it is up to us to confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness.
POWER IN THE BLOOD (Lewis E. Jones)
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
o Refrain:
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
Lord God, my sins are many, and they have left many wounds. I have sinned against You, but I have also sinned against my fellow man. I have not loved Your words and commandments as I should. Lord, I ask that You reach out with Your healing hand and touch me. Take away all sins and all their effects from my whole being, that I may uphold Your image in my life. Forgive me my trespasses, that I may learn to forgive others. Amen.