Slow-Walking Sin Out the Door

<p>Winston <em>knows</em> he&rsquo;s not supposed to chew them. So he&rsquo;s adopted a sly strategy. We call it <em>slow-walking.</em> If Winston spies a discarded, unguarded shoe, he&rsquo;ll casually meander in that direction, grab it, and just keep walking. <em>Slowly.</em> Nothing to see here. Right out the door if no one notices. &ldquo;Uh, Mom, Winston just slow-walked your shoe out the door.&rdquo; <br />It&rsquo;s apparent that sometimes we think we can &ldquo;slow-walk&rdquo; our sin past God. We&rsquo;re tempted to think that He won&rsquo;t notice. It&rsquo;s no big deal, we rationalize&mdash;whatever &ldquo;it&rdquo; is. But like Winston, we know better. We know those choices don&rsquo;t please God. </p> <p>Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we may try to hide due to the shame of our sin (Genesis 3:10) or pretend like it didn&rsquo;t happen. But Scripture invites us to do something very different: to run to God&rsquo;s mercy and forgiveness. Proverbs 28:13 tells us, &ldquo;Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.&rdquo; </p> <p>We don&rsquo;t have to try to slow-walk our sin and hope no one notices. When we tell the truth about our choices&mdash;to ourselves, to God, to a trusted friend&mdash;we can find freedom from the guilt and shame of carrying secret sin (1 John 1:9). </p>