Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today let’s examine being rational by admitting our sin rather than rationalizing the weight of our sin.

Luke 18:9‭-‬14 (NLT) shares…
Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Consider…
Human beings have a tendency to compare themselves to others. In fact in many instances, the standard they live by is based on another human being. Since believers are human beings, they too give into the same tendencies. However, 1 Peter 1:16 (NLT) expressly tells believers…
For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

That means God is The Standard!

Today’s scripture typifies many of us believers, because we try to rationalize our self-righteousness to God rather than accept being be made right with Him by His grace. We do this despite knowing the truth of Romans 3:22‭-‬24 (NLT)…
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

We may not pray the exact prayer that the pharisee prayed in today’s scripture, but many of us have cited one of the following excuses, when we miss the mark of holiness…

• At least I’m not as bad as…
• I’m not hurting anybody
• God knows my heart
• I’m a product of my environment
• Everybody’s doing it
• YOLO!
• You can’t take it with you
• God is still working on me
• The devil made me do it
• No one is perfect
• I’m a good person
• I’m only human
• The flesh is weak
• Lord knows, I’m doin the best I can (or know how to) do
• It’s just a little white lie

So why is it we prefer to rationalize who we are or what we’ve done, rather than be rational and admit the truth that we’ve sinned and move on?

1 John 1:8-9 (NLT) admonishes and instructs us…
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Think about it, what do you hate more, someone making a mistake or lying about it? Which brings me to the number one answer to the question of why we choose rationalizing over being rational and telling the truth. I believe the main reason is pride. If we are truthful and honest, we have to admit our wretchedness, which means we’re not as good as we believe we are. No one wants to admit they’re not a good person. However, notice Jesus’ response to being called good…

Mark 10:18 (NLT), it says…
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good.

The first step to overcoming our prideful rationalizing is to admit “Only God is truly good”.

Also, regardless of all of our rationalizing, Jeremiah 17:9‭-‬10 (NLT) warns…
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

Thus, when it comes to rationalizing with God, we’re being irrational and wasting our time. God knew you were going to do it and why, before you did it.

Remember the story of Cain and Able? Notice a key exchange between God and Cain in Genesis 4:6‭-‬7 (NLT) before Cain killed his brother…
“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

Rather than Cain admitting the truth, he compounded his sin by killing his brother. Somehow he concluded God’s rejection of his offering was Able’s fault, therefore Able had to go. Unfortunately, we have similar irrational thoughts about our sins. We blame:

• Our parents
• Society
• The church
• The government
• etc

So the next step in overcoming our prideful rationalizing is to remember we are explaining our actions to The omniscient God!

Which brings us to today’s encouragement which is quite simple, stop rationalizing sin. Instead be rational and confess sin to God, only then can you be forgiven, released from the guilt and freed to move forward in right relationship with God through Christ.

If Jesus Christ already paid the penalty for your sin, isn’t it irrational for you to deny your sin that He died for?

Therefore, I encourage you, when you mess up, just fess up, because our omniscient God already knows anyway. Our confession let’s God know that we know and admit that we’ve sinned. That’s all He’s waiting for to make us right with Him again.

Now doesn’t that seem more rational?

Today’s song is…
For The Wrong I’ve Done
https://youtu.be/ECxDZR5V0T0?si=gaJEVBbPZI0cHvEl

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)