“Nobody is perfect.” That’s a comfortable phrase for me to say whenever I screw up because it’s vague. I say it hoping it will pass for humility. It is actually NOT an admission of any personal flaws; it is a blanket accusation of mankind. I’m pretending that I’ve uttered something profound when all I’ve done is deflect attention away from my specific misbehavior.

Since I am someone who is occasionally critical of others (by occasionally I mean ‘daily’) it is crucial that I apply the same standards of judgment to myself. God has given me a finely tuned hypocrisy detector and dismissing my own sin with a pithy, “Nobody is perfect,” makes the detector’s needle spin like an airplane propeller.

Specifically, here’s my latest sin.

I shared the details of a private conversation without first letting the other person know I was going to do it. This was because I hadn’t INTENDED to talk about the conversation but my intentions are irrelevant. It doesn’t matter what I intended to do. All that matters is what I actually did.

Now, I want you to understand that this wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t an accident. As I was talking, I knew I was sinning. My hypocrisy detector was going crazy and I just ignored it. I was angry and it felt good to vent. Sin ALWAYS feels good…then it kills me.

I apologized to the other person in the conversation and the apology was accepted. Thank God for Jesus who makes apologies possible!

“John, why are you posting this in public!!!?? This isn’t anyone else’s business!!”

I write a lot about the importance of telling the truth. The truth is often painful and embarrassing. The truth doesn’t always make me look good. And when I leap over the ugly truths about myself to focus on the flaws of others, I am a hypocrite, a liar, and a coward. You can’t trust anything I say when I refuse to speak the truth about myself.

I want you to be able to trust me.

And…to be completely honest…I think I’ll get something from God for this confession. Jesus mentioned the benefits of forgiving and confessing. I’m probably being selfish now, but I’m telling you the truth.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

(Luke 6:38)