BUSTED

When I was in college, a group of my friends got quite a surprise one night while out to dinner at a local brew house.  They arrived ravenous and couldn't wait to place their orders.


While they waited for their server, one of my friends noticed that the group who had been sitting at the table next to them had taken off and--Oh, look!--had left several hardly-touched delicious looking appetizers!

Apparently the mozzarella sticks and chicken wings beckoned my famished friends.  They looked this way and that, grabbed the plates of deliciousness from the next table, and passed them around their own.

You can imagine, then, how mortified they were when they realized the people at the next table hadn't actually left--they were simply taking a quick tour of the brew house before they decided to return to their appetizers.

Busted!


My friends sheepishly admitted helping themselves to their neighbors' food and ordered them some replacements--and thankfully, everyone was able to laugh about it.

There's something about being caught, being found out, that is just cringe-inducing to us.  There are things in our hearts we hope never get uncovered, things we've done we hope stay in the dark, struggles we face that we don't care to confess.  I don't want you to know that I fight hard to stand up under certain temptations.  I want you to think I'm strong enough not to struggle at all.  


But I also know that it's actually a blessing to be busted--a gift to be found out.  The battles we face by ourselves have a far, far greater chance of bringing us down than the ones we bring to light.  


So tell on yourself.  Confession is critical in our walk with Christ.  Let yourself be found out, and find that what held you in the shadows has somehow lost its grip on you in the light.  


We don't need to live in fear of being found out, being caught.  We have already been caught in the sweetest, most freeing net of the grace of Jesus Christ.

Confess your sins to each other

and pray for each other, 

that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous man

is powerful and effective.

James 5:16