“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Psalm 28:13

I did something very dangerous recently, I went to the Lord as the rich young man in Matthew and asked, “What lack I yet?”(Matthew 19:20) I’ve heard that this is a dangerous thing to do because you certainly will be told what you can do, and it most likely won’t be easy. However, I so wanted to be good, to be all good, and so I took the risk and asked the question. As promised, I received an answer. At first it kind of made my heart sink, and was hard to swallow, “Oh… that.” I realized that I had been covering something. I thought that if I did enough good, it somehow “covered” the sin, that I didn’t need to address it. After all it was so long ago, and I had done so much good since. In effect, I was trying to atone for my own sin, somehow hoping that enough good would override the bad. But this cannot be, for we cannot truly become clean without the atonement, without Jesus Christ. So despite my righteous desires, underneath all the good this one thing still remained.

Why hadn’t I repented of it sooner? Well, I guess because I was scared. The Adversary would whisper, “Oh that? That you’ve got to keep secret. Don’t let anyone know. Why, if they knew, well they’d never think the same of you. No just pretend it never was, forget about it.” And so it was kept in the dark. And well, I’ve learned that when things are in the dark, then they are in Satan’s power, and he is able to have control over that part of us, no matter how small it may be. Hence, the importance of confessing our sins. It is in the confession that we bring matters out of darkness to light. We take full responsibility for what we’ve done, and realize our need for a Savior. And only then, can the real repentance process begin.

How grateful I am for the atonement, and for the cleansing power that can only come through it. May we all have the courage to bring things out of the darkness, and truly walk in the light.

11″ x 14″ oil on panel