I hate getting blood drawn. I don’t like it. It’s uncomfortable. It hurts to get stuck, and frankly, I just find it annoying to have to go to the lab and have someone put me through mild pain. Because I value my family though and want to be healthy for them, I went and got a physical. The doctor asked if I wanted my blood drawn for tests. I hate it, but said yes. The reason I said yes? I want to know what’s going on in the inside of me. If my body is lacking something or fighting some kind of unseen battle, I want to know about it so I can deal with it. I want to be there for my family and live a healthy life.
So I did it. It took a couple weeks to make it in... because... well, the summer life happened. But I finally made time and went in to the lab. Guess what. It hurt to get stuck. It was inconvenient and annoying to fast for the 8-10 hours before (especially when Girl Scout cookies in my freezer were calling my name). But I lived and moved on with my day. Eventually I will hear from the doctor if there’s anything I should change or something we need to deal with. But the process reminded me of something.
Asking the Lord if there’s any sin in you that you need to deal with is an extremely beneficial exercise to do. David said in Psalms 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”
There are times that the Holy Spirit will highlight an issue of sin that needs to be dealt with through multiple avenues even without our prior asking. It’s almost as if the winds blow and uncover something that was previously covered up. This could be where our own life circumstances highlight something is not right in our heart, this could be a person in our life pointing out the issue, or even Scripture convicting us of that issue. But what an amazing demonstration of our desire to be pure before the Lord to ask Him occasionally (or even daily) to reveal to you the sinful, dark areas of your life that need change.
Not many people do that. Why? It’s like getting your blood drawn. Most people don’t want to prick of conviction. Some people would rather live unknowing and dangerously without knowing what’s on the inside of their heart than asking the question, dealing with the process of conviction and choosing to do something about the problem that’s revealed.
Check out these verses.
Matthew 12:36
"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”
Romans 14:12
“So then each of us shall give account of himself to God”
Hebrews 4:13
“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
1 Peter 4:5
“They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
Y’all. It’s coming. Whether you expect it, whether you want it, whether you dread it, whether you deny it. It’s coming. You will give an account of your life to God.
When you choose to confront the problems of sin now (confess it to the Lord, accept His forgiveness and recognize Jesus took the punishment on the cross, repent, stop doing wrong and go in the other direction), guess what! It’s forgiven! The glorious thing is God WANTS to forgive us and have us move on with life! He doesn’t hold that guilt over you. He actually wants to empower you to live without that sin, through the Holy Spirit.
Look at David’s response to the Lord in recognition of sin in his life.
Psalms 51:2-12
“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-- That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.”
King David understood that once you identify what’s on the inside and realize the inside is a problem, the answer is to deal with it!
No good doctor would see an irregular lab come back that has signs of something very wrong and just tell their patient, “Well, don’t do anything about it. Maybe it’ll disappear.” No! You gotta do something about it. If something shows up in your blood and your doctor says to do something and you decide to ignore it, chances are, eventually that something is going to affect your life.
Sin affects your life! It will catch up to you. When you disobey God, it affects your heart and you will eventually have to deal with it.
Like those bad results of the blood test. Either you can deal with it right away or you will have to deal with it later (like when we give an account before God). Things go way better when you deal with it immediately. The symptoms and consequences get worse as time goes on. Choose to respond in prayer and repentance. Humble yourself before the Lord and choose to change with His help. He helps! But we still have to do our part.
So just to recap.
Be courageous enough to ask the Lord if you need to change anything on the inside. The Holy Spirit is so good at bringing things to mind. And side note... just like fasting helps our blood results to be clear, sometimes fasting food will actually allow our spirit to hear clearly as we tell our flesh to be quiet with discipline. It helps our hearing in this process of repentance as well.
Once the Lord reveals what is on the inside, know it’s the kindness of the Lord to bring us to repentance now so we can deal with it NOW and not when we are standing before His judgment seat. Take what He has revealed and pray about it. Confess your sins like David and choose to forsake that sin. It’s like walking in a direction and completely turning around and walking in the opposite direction. Choose to forsake sin and live in obedience to God.
The process can be painful in the moment. But the benefits of finding out what’s on the inside of you is well worth the momentary sting.
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