“You still lack one thing.” Luke 18:22 (NIV)
Bible commentator Matthew Henry says something that is profoundly helpful here. He says, “A sound conviction of one sin will put us upon enquiring into the whole confederacy.”
A confederacy, as all Americans know, is a group of states or people who join together for common action.
When you can see one sin in your life (and you really are convinced that it is a sin, and that it is in you), it won’t be long before you see that there is a whole confederacy of sins in your life—many sins, working together, feeding off each other, and the whole thing is growing within you.
You know what it is like trying to see little fish in a lake on a sunny day. Someone says, “Look at all these fish!” And you say, “I don’t see any.” Then you see one, and suddenly you see them all over the place. That is what it is like with sin. When you can see one sin in your life, it will not be long until you see the whole confederacy.
A successful young man once came to Jesus. He had it made in this world, and he wanted to be sure that he would make it in the next, so he said to Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18).
Jesus discerned the man’s heart and said, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor… then come, follow me” (18:22). The man liked to pass himself off as a man who loved God and his neighbor, but the truth was he was in love with himself. So his face fell and he walked away.
He came to Jesus with the idea that he was keeping all the commandments. But Jesus opened his eyes to one sin. How long do you think it was before he saw the whole confederacy?
Can you name one sin that you see in your life right now?
