Several years ago, I began a diet and exercise program that led to a loss of thirty pounds. Although many friends and colleagues noticed the thinning of my face most of my weight loss was not immediately visible because there are many locations in the body where fat deposits are diminished during dieting and weight loss. For example, within our abdominal cavity, there are large deposits of fat around internal organs like the kidneys, adrenal glands, and liver. There is a complicated lattice of fat and blood vessels, called the omentum, that envelops our intestines. The losses can be quantitatively measured with radiological examinations like a CT or MRI scan but not by external visual observation.
But there is a fat deposit that is best identified by one’s own touch. As a physician and dermatopathologist, I knew this physiological change occurred with weight loss but had forgotten until it happened to me. It was an almost imperceptible change, evident only when I focused upon it, but there it was! My scalp was definitely thinner. I noticed it when I shampooed my hair. At first, I naively thought my hair was thinning! While I and nearly everyone else who saw me, noticed the obvious weight loss, only I could discern the more subtle changes such as the thinning of my scalp. It was this hidden fat that led to the most dramatic changes in my weight loss. I was a fat head and I didn’t even know it!
Hidden fat is similar to our guilt and sins. When I confessed and repented of my sins, God forgave me of my sins and began the transformation in my life that continues to this day. The changes in my life were obvious to many but my deepest guilts were still hidden from view. Like my fat head, only I knew of its presence and only I could discern its disappearance.
Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
Psalms 32:5 (NLT)
What do we do with our hidden guilt and sins? The Christian theologian R.C. Sproul wrote, “Because He freely owned my guilt I may freely own my sin. Guilty as charged, and yet, not guilty at all.”
For years, I was a fat head, literally and spiritually. Unwilling to recognize my deplorable state and drowning in my sins, it was only by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ that He rescued me and removed my hidden sins and guilt. The hidden sins and guilt, that only I and God could see, were now removed. All my guilt is gone!
Praise God!
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
The Bereans Blog 