You’re all wonderful and amazing. God loves you. It will all be alright in the end. That’s what most of us want to hear. The words are true but are they what we need to hear?
Last Sunday morning I spoke of the role of friends who act as God’s hands, helping mould our lives and part of that friendship is about them saying to us what we need to hear rather than what we want to hear.
Inevitably hearing what we need involves some kind of challenge or question. It’s not just saying “yes it’s all fine” because sometimes it’s not.
Sometimes we need someone no matter how uncomfortable it might be for us to say “hang on a minute, think about what you’re doing, what you’re saying, this really isn’t ok.”
That is the great merit of Sacramental Confession. It’s a place where we name those things of which we are most ashamed. A time for spiritual honesty.
One of my friends worked with addicts of various kinds and the most important step they take, is to name their problem.
We too, sometimes need to name our sin because that’s what God is interested in redeeming and works with, not who we think we should be, but who we really are.
So whilst we may want to say everything is wonderful really sometimes it isn’t and we need to be honest with ourselves.
Continue reading “What We Want to Hear – What We Need to Hear”