“You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.’ Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you….”
“But the witless can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s cold can be born tame.”
If you have pets, then you know the unmistakable need to potty. Cat’s have cat boxes and dogs have the backyard. You can be walking in the backyard, enjoying the morning and looking at flowers and then you step in it, poop. You knew it was there, somewhere in the yard. It is not like, “how did this get here?” No, doggy poop is a part of the backyard like litter critters are a part of the cat box. Your pet has a need to potty just like we do. The only difference is that ours gets flushed easily and theirs is on display waiting to be stepped in or scooped up.
The Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short. So, we are born into sin. It stains our soul like stepping into poop in your backyard. We try to wash ourselves from sin to no avail, we are stuck with it. Zophar is another friend of Job. His rebuttal to Job is the sin card. He tells Job that if only he would admit to the sin in his life then God would free him from all this horrible pain he is in.
We often get caught in this trap also. We hear others say that if you confess your sins then… I grew up Catholic and they are big on confessing sin. The act of confessing is just admitting that you have sinned. The sin card gets played too often and it is played as the reason for your suffering. They say that God is punishing you and you need to get right with God. This is exactly what Zophar was telling Job.
The entire Old Testament is full of stories driving home the point that God’s chosen people could no more get all the way clean from sin then avoiding stepping poop in your backyard. Rather all those stories are pointing towards a need for a savoir who would take your sin away and redeem you.
Friends, confessing sin does not take it away nor does it change your position with God. Only Christ and his sacrifice could do that. It does no good for you to go around and point out sin in other people’s lives. This is not the great commission. The great commission is telling them the good news. We all have the sin card and it sticks to us like poop we stepped in. Christ came to wash all those sins away. He took the sin and paid for it. Don’t get caught up in confessing without repentance.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This cleansing from all unrighteousness is a process which we walk out every day. James 1:2-5 also tells us that “the testing of our faith produces perseverance.” Verse four says, “let perseverance finish its work so you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” The hardships we experience in this life, be it from a sin we have committed or not, are tools Christ uses to mature us a believers.
The Zophar’s of life tell us that sin is reason you are in trouble and you should repent. Christ says I have bore those sins and you don’t have to live convicted but free. Christ came to make us right with God not so we could point out sin. Don’t be a Zophar!
Prayer: Father, we often judge and condemn others because of their sin. I pray that we would point them to Christ first and show them the freedom that Christ wants to give us. Freedom from all the past yuck in our lives. I pray that we see others through the eyes of Christ and offer freedom and love rather than commendation and conviction. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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