One of the hardest things to do is admit when we are wrong. It’s rather shocking really, because we are all wrong quite often. Even the heroes of the Bible made lots mistakes, both trivial and grave (David and Bathsheba, Solomon’s apostasy, Aaron’s golden calf incident, and then there’s Peter, who has quite the rapport). Jesus is the only one with a clean record.
Because messing up is such a regular part of the human experience, it’s surprising how difficult it is for us to admit sometimes. It doesn’t ever seem to get easier! If you’re anything like me, I sometimes even have a hard time admitting to myself when I’ve done something wrong. I’ll do scenario acrobats to justify my actions. “They need to toughen up!”, or “compared to what he did, I really wasn’t that bad.”
Sometimes it just hurts too much to swallow our pride and admit our wrongdoing. Most often when we do admit it it’s because we feel strongly about not wanting to face consequences rather than having feelings of regret and remorse for creating pain in someone else’s life. It’s still self-interest that drives us.
So, why? Why do we struggle so much to just say, “You know, I really messed up, and I’m sorry.” I think it’s because our pride gets in the way. It’s not that we think so highly of ourselves that we are afraid of ruining a reputation. Rather, I think that in our heart of hearts, we know how weak, vulnerable, and broken we really are, and when we confess when convicted, we are fearful that the people around us may get a glimpse of who we REALLY are.
It’s right at this very point that the gospel enters in. Christ meets each of us in the place of our brokenness. It’s at the point of crisis, when we are willing to lay it all out there just as it is that we find Jesus’ healing presence. We must come to a place of honest evaluation that drives us to say, “I have nothing to hide!”
This was the very purpose of a Roman cross during the time of Jesus. It was a public display of the guilty ones who were foolish enough to rebel against the tyrannical reign of Rome.
Things are the same today. To rebel against the tyranny of the reigning kings in our lives–self-interest, sex, power, money, greed and reputation–we have to come to the Lord as we are, in our weaknesses, and allow his woundedness to heal us.
