We categorize our sins. We conveniently seek to hide our idolatries from ourselves. We rant against the gross sins of others to embrace the treasured sins of our own pursuits. We could name them, but we dare not. They have become too precious to examine. We have declared by our ignoring them that they are not all that bad. How shall we be free from self-delusions and come fully under the rule of Christ’s kingdom? Look long and hard at our own mind and heart. Unless we learn how self-deceptive we have become, genuine repentance will escape us; the Kingdom of God will elude us.
“He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Luke 3:7–9 ESV)
{From “Sonlight for the Soul”, by H. Lamar Smith)
