In the Light
How would you feel if you were asked to confess of your unrepented sins and areas of bitterness/unforgiveness in front of a classroom of 48 people? You can image how I felt last Friday!Last week's lecture topic was repentance and forgiveness. For those of you who are not familiar with the YWAM DTS format, here's a quick idea as to how our training works. Shirley Brownhill, last week's speaker and the YWAM Perth director, spoke in our class everyday on the specific topic of the week. Every lecture was very in depth and precise on its subject. One morning we had a lecture on true and false repentance (it was my favorite morning of them all). Two of the mornings last week we had lectures that covered the area of forgiveness and bitterness. On Friday we put all of our knowledge into action.
Our class came in, and at the front of the room, there were two chairs. Shirley sat in one and the other one was open to each student who would like to come up and put their teaching into practice. Before we came to class that morning, Shirley encouraged each student to find some time to ask the Lord if there were any areas of repentance and unforgiveness that we needed to bring into the light. You should have seen everyone on Thursday night! We were all a bit nervous, but even more so, we were all reverent to what the Lord was speaking to us as individuals.
The time on Friday morning began and the first person came up to pray. Once a person sat in the chair, they would simply pray things as if it were just them and God. Everyone, students and even staff, had a turn. After a person prayed, Shirley and Arlen (our school leader) would pray for them. Once they were finished praying, we would nail our list of things to a wooden cross that we had in the room. Some weeping, others laughing, I know that each of us left that room feeling so free and relieved that we did not have to fear our reputations being corrupted by hidden sin or unrighteousness. I mean, I could literally see some of my classmates sit down because of the shame and embarassment they felt, but they would get out of that chair as if they had just been freed from a lifetime of prison. It was beautiful!
Sometimes we are afraid to stand for holiness because you do not want to seem as if you are "holier than thou". Other times we think that our performance will determine the quality of our spiritual depth. What I have failed to realize is that if my character and lifestyle fails to display the humility and fruit of the Spirit of Christ, I am only producing dead works. God cannot be near anyone who is not humble because His holiness cannot be in the presence of sin. So I choose to be broken and holy and without the recognition of mere humans because what I desire most is simply to be in God's light and presence.
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