Consider, once upon
a time, there were two kings who ruled successively over the nation of
Israel. The first king was guilty of
what most would consider a couple of relatively minor infractions and
misunderstandings between God and himself.
The second king was guilty of gross sin, sins which even today would
result in life imprisonment if not death.
The second king also intentionally disobeyed God, but in addition he
committed adultery, and murder. The first
king lost his kingdom, his family and ultimately his life for his minor
disobedience. The second king became
known as the greatest king ever to rule Israel, and is called “a man after
God’s own heart.” What was the
difference? When the first King, named
Saul, was confronted with his sin, he defended, justified and excused himself,
while pointing his finger at others, and trying to cover up both the sin and
its consequences. It was only when he
was caught red-handed and pressured by the prophet Samuel, did Saul confess his
sin. However, the true condition of
Saul’s heart is revealed in his next words, “Please honor me…” meaning don’t
embarrass me before the people. Saul was
more concerned about preserving his reputation than he was about being right with
God. His response to Samuel reveals a
dark, proud, unbroken heart. On the
other hand, when David was faced with his sin he willingly acknowledged his
failure to both his leadership team and the people. David took personal responsibility for his
wrongdoing. He blamed no one but himself.
He immediately confessed, repented and soon afterward made what
restitution he could for his sins. The
roof came off as he repented to God, and the walls came down as he wrote two
songs of contrition (Psalms 32 and 51).
Broken people don’t care who finds out about their weaknesses or their
sins. They have nothing to protect,
nothing to lose.
Transparency is a
core value of the OPEN Network. The
leadership team believes God wants us as B4T workers, and as a network to
remain transparent, humble, and broken before one another. We are not concerned about what one another’s
errors are, or that they are big or little.
The issue we are concerned about is whether our attitude and response
when confronted with our errors is dark, prideful, and self-centered; OR
transparent, humble, and God-centered.
For David, being a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) was not about
actions, but attitude. Having a heart
for God surely includes eloquent prayers, glorious worship, crying our eyes out
over our sins; yet fundamentally it’s about our attitude before God and
men. Our character is a magnifying glass
for revealing the true issues inside us.
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