For the last two weeks, I’ve written the 31 Day series the night before. Last night I had the verse, but felt like I didn’t have the full picture of the post. Now, I see that God had something very specific from the sermon this morning I need to share.
I’m going to combine two translations to show you Proverbs 14:9. The first part is NIV and the second is NLT.
Fools mock at making amends for sin, but the godly acknowledge it and seek reconciliation.
I see a lot of writing about forgiving. In fact, if you haven’t checked out this 31 Days series on Forgiveness, you are simply missing out.
The other side of the coin is confession of sin. Not just to God but to each other. Proverbs says the wise seek reconciliation. The wise are driven to make things right after you make it all go wrong.
This morning at church we wrapped a marriage series called You.Me.We. He talked about leaving a legacy with our marriage and how it will be a fight. Satan is out to kill, steal and destroy and we must put on the armor of God to wage the war. One defense Ephesians 6 calls for is the belt of truth.
The armor of God is nothing new to Christians but I think on the surface we translate it as “always tell the truth”. Or, “believe God’s truth”. One new aspect I saw today was in relation to Proverbs 14:9. By wearing the belt of truth, we are called to honesty and transparency.
Why is that part of the armor of God? Because if Satan has a plan to destroy your relationships, mainly your marriage, then we can ward off any threat by always confessing and being transparent about sin in our lives. When we leave sin unrepentant and hidden, Satan gets a foothold to cause doubt and even more sin.
Proverbs says the wise take confession and reconciliation seriously. The wise acknowledge any wrongdoings and then seek forgiveness. Just as we talked about the wise seeking, or digging, for wisdom, the wise seek reconciliation. They don’t ignore sin or assume the other person won’t care or gloss over it or hope the person forgets.
Challenge: Can you think of any time in the past where you’ve wronged someone and haven’t confessed and asked for forgiveness? What open wound do you have with someone today that you need to confess?
This post is part of The Nester’s 31 Days Series