In this prayer guide, I would like to reflect on what it
means for me to be a sinner who sins - and would invite you to share the
journey of examination and confession. We need to take sin seriously. The
purpose of confession is not to wallow in our sinfulness, but to bring it fully
and finally to Jesus, receive His forgiveness, and learn to walk in the new
life He gives.
Pride
Oh God, maker of Heaven and earth,
maker of me - I see so often in my own heart the leaning towards the same
prideful arrogance that drove me in the garden to partake of fruit forbidden.
How crazy it is to think, even for a moment, that I know better than You about
anything. Even anything concerning me. Lord, you know me. You know that I am
but dust. You also know that it is hard for me to know me that well. I tend to
think more highly of myself than I ought to think - to exaggerate my claims to
success and ignore my failures - to justify my arrogance and excuse my
willfulness.
Forgive me the mis-impressions I
leave uncorrected because they are flattering, even if false. Forgive me for
the way I manipulate conversations to wring compliments out of silence. Forgive
me for the comparisons with others by which I measure my relative worth -
rather than leaving all of that in your able hands. Forgive me for the
reluctance to celebrate others for fear it will diminish me. Forgive me for not
thinking as highly of You as I ought to think.
Please help me to think of myself
as accurately as possible only in relation to You. And, along the way, help me
become un-selfconscious. Please grant me opportunities this day to deal death
to prideful self, that Your new life may have rightful and full place in and
above all in me. Oh God - have mercy on me - a sinner.
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