An Honestly Lived Life
Lisa Cooke
“Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:2) The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty.” Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being…”
Ever since Adam and Eve tried to hide their sin from God in the garden, mankind has had the temptation to hide his sin from the eyes of the Omniscient One. How futile this is when we consider that God is able to know every moment of our being, nothing being hidden from Him. Hebrews 4:13 says, “And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Luke 8:17 says, “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”
We know these verses; we know that God is omniscient, yet in our distaste for being in the wrong, we try to conceal, justify, or ignore the sin which so easily besets us (Hebrews 12:1). Those unaddressed sins become weights to us who are doing our best to run the race set before us, a life that glorifies God. He has provided such an effective escape from those sins through His Son Jesus, but are we availing ourselves 100% to so great a salvation?
What kind of sins am I talking about? Some sins are obvious; we know they are sin, and we are well aware of them. For example, the Bible lists the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21. Other sins are more subtle, inconspicuous, and even acceptable on some level of human judgment. Doubt and unbelief can slip into our thinking without notice at times, which would be considered a sin against the knowledge of the goodness of God. Some have described these as hidden sin or secret sins. But all sin separates us from the kind or quality of relationship that God wants us to have with Him.
The love of God will not allow Him to stand by and do nothing about this breach in relationship. Instead, as a faithful and good Father, He reveals what He knows about us so that we can come to Him in faith and honesty. How we respond to that revelation will determine the trajectory of our lives.
To live an honest life, we must first be honest with ourselves, acknowledging where we have transgressed the pure purpose of God for our lives. No excuse, no defense, no rationalization. As the Publican (or tax collector in Luke 18:13) did in his prayer, so we humbly admit that we have “missed the mark;” that we have indeed sinned against God. In appealing to God for His mercy, we receive that mercy through the humility that admits that we have sinned.
Next and very importantly, we receive by faith the cleansing Jesus’ blood provides for us. The enemy often tempts a believer to wallow in the shame of their sin, with a remorse that is not tempered with the facts of redemption. David, in Psalm 51:7 says, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Hyssop here typifies the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, according to commentaries.) We are clean. We are whiter than snow when we appropriate the work of atonement through faith in Christ our forgiver.
“Go and sin no more” are the words we can expect to hear from heaven when we have, in an honest and sincere heart, repented of the transgressions He has revealed to us. This is what He wants us to do! Once we have been enlightened and repented of sins we are susceptible to, we can move forward with confidence that He has cleansed us, and we are free to live the life He desires for us to live, in holiness and sanctification.
