I’m not perfect! There I’ve said it, but it doesn’t really make me feel much better! While there are a lot of things to like about me, there are some things that I don’t like about me! The Bible teaches in James 5:16 that we are to “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”. So here my confession:
Sometimes I am wrong! When I decide to take a stand, then I am almost always right, but I am often wrong in how I take the stand. I don’t mean to be, I just am. I need to learn to be right and express it in right ways, so that my wrongness does not cause unnecessary hurt!
Sometimes I am rude! I don’t mean to be! It’s just that I am sometimes so focused on what I am doing and where I am heading, that I miss the opportunity to be sensitive to the needs and feelings of those around me! I need to be sensitive all the time, not just some of the time!
Sometimes I am defensive! I feel like some people are out to get me and I am the only one willing to defend myself! This causes me to say, do and think things that shouldn’t! I need to keep my focus on my service to my Creator and if He is pleased find my satisfaction in that and not the ego boosting or busting opinions of others!
Sometimes I am impatient! I know what needs to be done, I know how to do it and I don’t have time for excuses! This impatience is often what leads to my being defensive, rude and wrong! I need to learn to slow down, trust that God is in control and know that I am not!
Sometimes I am negative! I don’t want to be! In fact, I can’t stand to be around negative people, but the truth is that this world is full of them. We are surrounded by negativity and it can creep into your life without you ever being aware of! I need to be positive all of the time, not just most of the time!
Sometimes I am hurtful! I would never intentionally hurt someone, but I have discovered that I unintentionally hurt people and often don’t even realize it! I say or do things that are perceived by others in a negative way and it hurts. I need to think about my actions and reactions and how they might be perceived by others and do all that I can to help things to be perceived correctly!
Sometimes I am forgetful! I usually have a pretty good memory, but sometimes the mind and life get a little too cluttered and I forget things that are important to others. I end up not saying or doing something that I should! I need to get rid of the things that don’t matter and work to stay focused on the things that do and that is the relationships of friendships that make the world go around!
I am a pretty messed up guy! I would be depressed, but I know that God loves me and I trust that He has forgiven me and so I will work hard to make progress in these seven areas of my life! And by the way the James passage tells me to confess and the people who I confess to are supposed to pray so that I may be healed! Your job is not judgement, your job is prayer!
Share your confessions with me and I’ll make you this promise: I won’t judge, I’ll pray and together we will experience God’s healing!
Michael Joe Harvell 
I, too, am not perfect by any means. But I strive to be but know that I never will be. You think you are messed up? You just don’t know!! I say the wrong things all the time and then feel bad about what I’ve said. My mouth speaks before my brain goes into gear. I think bad thoughts sometimes. I don’t mean too. I try to be a kind. loving, caring person. I get discouraged and depressed. But satan knows our weakest points and he works hard at using them against us. Sometimes I just tell him that he isn’t getting the best of me but then sometimes he does. But I have the choice. I can be discouraged or I can encouraged. Lots of times the discouragement overrules but I have learned that talking really helps. The “unloading the truck” makes you feel so much better and I thank you for letting me “unload” on you sometimes. This is just a drop in the bucket for me. Thank you for your honesty. You know you are one of my “heros”. I admire you so much.
It really does feel better to get it out, especially when you know that you are sharing with people that care about you and want what is best for you. When you first start spelling it out, you can’t help but think: “Am I really that messed up?’, but then because of your honesty, God starts to do His work in and through you and you just know that you are going to be okay! Thanks for sharing and know that on this end you’ve got a friend that is caring! G3!
You “want judge?”
Next confession: you make typos. 🙂
Seriously, this message matches me perfectly (or imperfectly), too. Expect to see a share on Twitter & Facebook.
My confession? Besides everything you just wrote, mine is on page 127 of Permission to Speak Freely. (Maybe I should stop confessing that one’s mine. But it is.)
By the way, I see nothing wrong with being nehative about some things. There is no need to improve on the positive.
Thanks – Yes I do and sometimes in a very big way! Actually typed the blog this morning on my ipad and I typically make all kinds of typos, even more on the ipad – glad to have friends that can help me out with that!
I have got to get a copy of Permission To Speak Freely, espcially so I can check up on you and see what it is you are doing!
I am going to have to study your last comment and make it a matter of prayer! (HAHA!)
Thanks for reading and sharing – love the conversation!