I'm a pretty good sinner.

There is a part of me that would love to deny it, but it's true. Growing up I always thought I'd be done with sin when I became and adult. I pictured myself with idealistic perfection. I'm an adult now and I found that it doesn't work that way. The incredible thing is that I've talked with people much older than myself and they confess to still being sinners too.

Surprisingly I've learned a lot by being a sinner. I think in the moments when we view ourselves apart from the messy reality of sin in our hearts we lose our wondrous need for the grace of God. I'm not suggesting it's necessary to think about our sin all the time just to appreciate God. That kind of self-deprecating behavior would miss the truths that God's grace and love is dependant upon Christ not us. We must fix our eyes on Christ.

Is it possible then to look upon Christ in context of our sin? Yes. In fact, it's the context of our sin that shows us our greatest need for Christ. When we acknowledge the mess of sin in our lives with a desperate desire for the forgiveness and life of Christ then it becomes Christ who allures our gaze not our sin. I don't like the view of my sin.

I used to be motivated to confess my sin because I didn't want to be punished, lose out on anything good, or just because I though it was the right thing to do. I confessed sin to make God fell better about me. Since then I have come to understand that God accepts me and unconditionally loves me even while I'm a sinner. I see now a new motivation for confessing sin: I realize that sin is a complete waste of the life God created me for and every time I sin I'm settling for second best. Only the life we find in Christ through obedience and worship is worth it. God is the best. When we settle for anything less than living for God we settle for garbage.

It is, after all, God who has created me, my day, and the world around me. (Ps. 95, 118, 139) He has given me life through Jesus Christ and has blessed me with every spiritual blessing. (Rom. 5, Eph. 1) He has my best interest at heart. (Matt 7:11) All that is good comes from him, and in the end is truly what I want. I believe God created us to want what's best so it would lead us to his heart.

"You do not want to leave (me) too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve (disciples). Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." (John 6:67-68)

May these words of Peters become our hearts cry. There is nowhere else, no one else, or nothing else that will ever compare to God. may that be our motivation to live for Him and by His ways.

-Josh