Purgation
Posted by Terry Nelson on Jan 21st, 2008
The school of self-knowledge.
“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.” - Psalm 50
This is a very difficult trial - to be shown our sins. Which is why we must have great confidence in the passion and death of our Lord, who bore our sins and nailed them to the cross.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Would you prefer not to know your sins and continue oblivious ?
God may shield the full consequences from our eyes ; but His overwhelming Love graces us with an awareness of our sin.
Always be thankful ! [1 Thess]
Know you’re loved.
January 21st, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I have never noticed this verse from psalms before and I had to write. I am now the director of a crisis pregnancy center, but when I was 18 years old I had an abortion. God has truly and painfully drawn my sins before my eyes. There are too many examples to give, but here are two.
After suffering 10 years of infertility caused by my abortion, I finally conceived my son. Shortly after he was born I had cancer and am unable to have any more children (I am so very blessed by God to have one!) When he was four, he climbed into my lap one Christmas and said,”Mommy, this year tell Santa I don’t want ANY toys - I only want a brother or sister.” It felt like a knife in my heart. That was the first moment I realized that I had killed not only my first child, but also the only brother or sister he would ever have. Devastating.
Years later, when he was nine, I was cooking dinner one night. At this time, no one knew about my abortion - not my husband, not even my best friend. And my son walked into the room and said, “Mom, sometimes I feel like I have a brother or sister somewhere that I don’t know about - do I?”
The abortion lobby tells women that the predominate feeling they will have after an abortion is relief - but I think that’s because they ask them while they are still at the clinic. I felt relieved for only a few short weeks. The feeling that has lasted my whole life is the one that I felt when my son said that to me. I felt shame. So ashamed of what I had done to his brother or sister.
It is indeed a very difficult trial to be shown your sins - but a necessary part of our healing I think. He wounds us to make us whole.
I share this with the girls at our center - thanks for giving me a scripture to go with it! And please, keep praying for an end to abortion.
God Bless…
January 21st, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Michelle, thank you for your very humble comment. I’m so deeply touched. I do pray for an end to abortion and I will pray for you.
The healing of our sins does include the necessity of seeing them, within the mercy of God - especially as they are reflected in the wounds of Jesus.
January 21st, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Again, nicely stated, Terry. Sometimes I get caught up with the intricacies of our faith and forget the loving simplicity of God. I think this contrast was perfectly described by Father Jude Eli - a very conservative priest - when he once said to me during a fundraiser, “Tom, religion cost money, salvation is free.” Not that the Catholic tradition isn’t important. Indeed, it’s an extremely personal part of who I am. But some people might have developed this complicated misconception that God is there to strike them down.. What a terrible misunderstanding..
January 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Tom - or the misconception that God is there to guilt them.