Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Shana: This is Shana on Johnny Erickson Tada sharing hope. Turn up your volume because today Johnny has a confession about her marriage.

Joni Eareckson Tada: When Ken and I get into a disagreement, it usually does not erupt into a torrent of nasty words. It was like that in the beginning of our marriage many years ago. Back then I used to call our arguments verbal vomit. You know, awful words that you devise in order to wound each other, nasty words intended to hurt the other person. But it's not that way anymore. We decided that if we were going to fight, we would not fight that way. It just didn't seem fair. So now it's different. Our disagreements nowadays instead can lead to an icy silence.

There have been evenings when in the midst of a disagreement my husband will hide behind his fishing magazine or I will find solace at the kitchen table with my iPhone. But the eerie quiet in their home never lasts beyond bedtime and lights out because before we say good night, and we've had this rule for a long time, one of us will finally break the frozen silence with a Can we please talk? And what a relief it is to hear those words. And we say them because neither Ken nor I can bear it any longer. We cannot stand that schism between us.

We are in fact the perfect picture of Psalm 38 verses 4 and 18 where the psalmist confesses, quote, my guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. And I confess my iniquity. I am troubled by my sin. Now I know you felt that way to be troubled by your sin. Well, it's during those times of confession and forgiveness that Ken's love for me and my love for him, it always always deepens. He'll sit on the side of the bed and I don't know, maybe he'll confess his selfishness and then I in turn will ask him to forgive me of my stiff neck to stubborn pride.

And the most powerful moment then comes when we both acknowledge our sin before almighty God. And we do so because Psalm 51 verse 4 is so convicting. The schism is fundamentally between us and the Lord, not just between Ken and me. No, it's it's with the Lord. And Ken and I want to do everything to heal that. So we say out loud with Psalm 51 saying, oh Jesus, against you you only. Have we sinned and done this evil in your sight? And friend, that is when the love of God overwhelms us with this renewed I don't know.

It's it's like an appreciation not only for his awesome mercy and majesty, but when Ken and I finally turn off the lights and kiss good night, we we find that our love for each other is renewed too. Proverbs chapter 28 verse 13 says it perfectly. It says, he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Oh my goodness, don't we all want mercy? I mean, who doesn't want to feel clean before the Lord, right? So let us renounce sin. Let us quickly confess it. Let's show a little contrition.

For genuine contrition involves two things and you know them well, honest confession and true repentance. And confession is that you know, acknowledgement of personal wrongdoing before God and before those we've injured. And repentance, well, that's a change of mind as well as following it up with changed behavior. Oh friend, the Holy Spirit is constantly trying to get you and me to not only acknowledge our wrongdoing, but to bring it to light. Quit trying to conceal it. Just just come clean and confess it. So think now, do you need to make personal amends with anyone today?

If you do, and if the Holy Spirit is telling you to, now's the time. Now's the day to do it. Because genuine contrition will ultimately result in a deeper appreciation for God's mercy, for his love, and an appreciation for the one that you have heard.

Shana: Be sure to visit johnnyradio.org today.