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Eletter for Week of January 22, 2004
My Dear Friend, Two weeks ago, we began looking at “coming clean” and what it means to different people. According to his book and recent newspaper articles, Pete Rose thinks that “coming clean” is admitting what people already knew, then blaming the problem on other people. Remember, he said that he did, indeed, gamble on baseball -- even on his own team. However, according to reports, he blames his gambling problem on his accusers and a medical condition. Even though he acknowledged his addiction, he did not ask forgiveness. In fact, he said, “I refuse to beg your forgiveness like a TV preacher; I do not want your sympathy.” On the day I gave my life to Christ, I knew I had to come clean, but I didn’t really know what that meant. All I knew was that I had hurt many people and I had to do something about that. My mentor told me many times over our three-year journey together that if I acknowledged my sins to Christ and asked for forgiveness, HE would forgive me! Why, I thought, wouldn’t that also work with the people that I had hurt and loved? It wasn’t easy. And I didn’t notice immediate results either. No bells went off, my lustful thoughts and evil desires did not disappear. What did happen was that it seemed that there was something inside of me-something convicting me to think about the choices I had been making and especially the consequences of those choices. There was something inside of me that began to guide my thoughts and my actions. I promised last week that I would share with you the PERFECT FORMULA for coming clean. Well, here is what is working for me. Coming clean is not a single magic step that leads you from desperation and despotism to a perfect life. (In fact, that perfect life doesn’t exist on this side of heaven.) Coming Clean is a process of liberation by which we are delivered, restored and healed. The process includes acknowledging our sins, accepting that it is ours (not someone else’s) and asking forgiveness for the hurt created by our sin. We must go through this process, first with ourselves, then with Jesus Christ, our Savior, and then with those we have hurt and love. How we go about facilitating this process becomes very personal. I know that coming clean for me was a lot different then it was for my daughter, Jade, or my son, Jorgito, when they came clean. Both of them began their process of liberation when they shared with me, on separate occasions, some very personal and intimate issues. For all three of us the results of coming clean have been the same. That is: Deliverance (each of us in our own way, senses a release - or freedom - from a burden that had been consuming us), Restoration (each of us feels that we are rebuilding our relationships - this time on a solid foundation) and Healing (each of us are moving toward mending inside the hurt that our sin has placed on us). More next week. Meanwhile, I will continue to pray for God’s blessing on everyone who reads our Eletters. Please continue to pray for us.
Love,
Jorge Valdes, Ph.D.
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