Luke
6:41-42 (NIV) 41 “Why
do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention
to the plank in your own eye? … You hypocrite, first
take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the
speck from your brother’s eye.
Revelation
3:19-20 (NASB) 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and
discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone
hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with
him, and he with Me.
Discipline is what we do to grow as people. The spiritual disciplines
are what we do regularly to nourish and grow our soul. Spiritual disciplines
include prayer, fasting, meditation, Bible study, frugality, solitude, worship,
and confession, and we may ask which of these is the most important. The answer
is that just as we need a balanced diet to nourish our body we need a balanced practice of
the disciplines to nourish our soul.
But, there is one discipline that helps open the
door to our hearts and minds that I call the “Hinge Discipline.” It could be
compared to the enter key on a computer. Material stays on the surface on the screen
until we push the enter key. So the material of the other disciplines tends to
stay on the surface of our life until we push this key, the Hinge Discipline,
that is repentance and confession. Repentance is the inward recognition of wrong that
we have done. Confession is the outward acknowledgment. It is a response to the
work of God in our life. It is allowing ourselves to hear God’s verdict and judgment on our life. Those
whom I love, I reprove and discipline. This is the work of God. To reprove
means to expose and bring to the light.
Confession serves our life in
several ways. One of the most important is that confession reverses our natural
tendency to deny and blame. We talk about the faults and problems of others,
but never seem to face up to the truth about ourselves. Jesus calls us to focus
on ourselves and our faults. Unless we hear this repeatedly, the compass needle
of our soul seems to drift naturally toward seeing the faults of others rather
than focusing upon ourselves. God reproves us and chastens us to deliver us
from the deceits that numb us and undermine us and destroy us. He doesn’t break
the door down, but neither does He quit knocking. When was the last time something in
the Scriptures reproved you, proved you wrong, corrected you, judged you? Whenever
you feel angry, or irritated, or disappointed or frustrated, open the door to
your soul by asking “Where is my responsibility in this? How am I at fault?” If
you allow that question to interrupt
the blame game we all play you will discover God living closer to you
than you ever imagined.
From a sermon preached by Henry
Dobbs Pope, November 6, 1994
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)
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