On Boo-boo's and Blessings

Consider the moments of bonding, when you first hold your newborn in your arms. Looking into that precious face, the word love is forever redefined; and whether you had planned for it or not, you are changed.
In that moment, you envision the skinned knees, the broken bones, the homework arguments, and the teenage melodramas. There will be lessons about lying, and theft, and the golden rule. However, considering their pending mistakes does nothing to lessen our love for them. We understand. After all, training them is part of our job:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.--Proverbs 22:6.

We dread the pain that we know their mistakes will cause them. Since we can’t insulate them from all pain, we promise bandages and kisses for the boo-boo’s, sound counsel for moments of confusion, and salve and hope for broken hearts.
Knowing that, consider:

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ---Matthew 7:9-11

God knows we’re gonna screw up. He knows that we’re gonna fall face-first into the muck and mire of sin. He understands. Does He relish our sin? Of course not! No more than we relish our kids mistakes. He hates the sin but loves the sinner. Understanding our sin does not mean He condones it. In short, His knowing that we’re gonna fall down does not give us an excuse to stay down. Having His understanding doesn’t give us latitude for a nice, long, self-indulgent wallow-moment, in that familiar muck.

What’s a wallow-moment?

Let’s say that one day, you correct and forgive your child for stealing a pack of gum. (There’s the initial slip and fall.) You’ve seen your kid confess and apologize to God, to the store owner, and to you; and you’ve added your forgiveness to God’s, glad that he knows how it feels to have the mud cleaned off and have a new beginning... And the next day, you enter his room and find a brand new bike that nobody paid for... (That would be the wallow-moment, folks). As a parent, how would that make you feel?

That’s how our Heavenly Father feels, when we slip in the muck of repetitive sin. Still, He doesn’t let go. He doesn’t give up. Why? Because Paul spoke Holy Truth, when he said:

“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”–Romans 7:19–8:2

No sin that we can commit is too big for Calvary to cover. We cannot reach beyond His mercy...

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ---Colossians 2:13-14

Maybe, you’ve slipped and fallen. Maybe, you’re in the midst of a wallow-moment. If so, please remember that unconfessed sin does not cancel salvation.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ---Romans 8:38–39.

It does not erase relationship.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.---John 1:12

Do you have a mental picture of what unconfessed sin does not do? Go back to the image of that stolen bike...edrawsoft.com
Even if you did find it in his room, would you disown your kid? Unlikely.

To look at it from another angle, if I’m in Third Grade, and I flunk a math test, do I get bounced back to kindergarten?... Certainly not. Review? Absolutely. Extra homework? Probably. Retest? Possibly. Get demoted by three grades? Nope.

Why then, when we slip, do we so often act as if it’s necessary to start at the very beginning with God? It’s not. He has a plan in place for when we mess up. Notice that I said when, not if. What’s The Plan?

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.--1 John 1:9

It was written to born-again Christians, not as a first direction to the lost; and it lays out how to mend our slips, ditch the mud, and start fresh. It says nothing about needing another baptism or a public rededication. Gratefully, it’s one on one, with Jesus, because it’s private and personalized (Mark 15:37; Hebrews 4:15–16). It’s about our personal condition, not our public position.

Let’s see a picture of what unconfessed sin does do. It temporarily blocks blessings...

Do you remember playing in the water, when you were little? Remember hooking up the garden hose, turning the flow up as high as it would go, and using your hand to control the speed and direction of the spray? Imagine that your thumb is firmly blocking the hose’s opening, so much so, that you can feel the vacuum-effect on your fifth digit. Think of the water as the flow of God’s blessings into your life; and think of your thumb as the unconfessed sin. The water has not vanished. In fact, a thin trickle of that refreshing fluid insists on pressing past that stubborn blockade. However, that trickle looks nothing like the full flow, nor can it come near to having the same effect as the full flow.

We can rant at God, over our dry season; or we can remember...

For the eyes of The Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong, on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. ---2 Chronicles 16:9a

May we act on the promise of 1 John 1:9, and get out of God’s way!