Confession Is Good for the Soul (I’m Told)

06/09/11 | Posted by HughB

I’ve been on a bit of a journey of discovery over these last couple of months. Do you remember my time with my friends and the stone gorilla?

Well, I met with someone who works for the Town Council and who had actually been heavily involved in the setting up of the gorilla. So I told her of my hard work trying to convince my friends and she roared with laughter…not at them but at me.

Apparently it is not meant to be a gorilla. That was just something suggested by the editor of a local magazine that used to be circulated around the estate, and for some reason the myth seems to be sticking.

So all my hard work that Monday morning had been wasted and I had to confess to my friends that I had inadvertently misled them.

 A Gorilla? Nope!

I wonder how many times Paul, the guy who wrote most of the letters in the New Testament, thought about his life before he met Jesus on the Road to Damascus. He had been so sure that those Jews who were speaking of this risen Christ were wrong that he had been planning to get them imprisoned or executed. Then Jesus spoke to him and he had to do a major rethink. His belief had been totally sincere but wrong.

I suspect that we too are not imune to that failing.

How often do we misinterpret things around us (events, the behaviour and intentions of others)  because we listen to our own limited ideas or the opinions of others? How often have we misunderstood aspects of jesus because of our limited understanding of God or some dubious teaching we’ve heard in the past?

Certainly, in my line of work I meet quite a few people whose belief system seems to be more influenced by old wives’ tales and sadly also quite a few people who have rejected God because of their early experiences of Church or individual Christians.

Following his conversion Paul had the courage to acknowledge that

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Perhaps in our dealings with others we too need to appreciate that none of us have Jesus all worked out but only see a poor reflection of his love for all humanity.

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