Suppression vs Change
When it comes to attitude or sin, it’s easy mistake suppression for change. Years ago, I was sitting in my car, listening to a sermon on my radio. The preacher made a great analogy that has always stuck with me. He said that sin is like a beachball. If you are in a swimming pool, you can try to hold that beachball underwater.
Pressing down on that ball works for a while, but eventually, your arms get tired, someone does a cannonball into the pool, and someone bumps you. Pop! That beachball is back on the surface of the water. It may have looked like it was gone. You may even have thought, “I have this,” but it always comes back. Change, on the otherhand, is when all the air -- sin -- is let out of the beachball. You no longer have to strain to suppress it. It doesn’t pop back.
My Suppression
Most stand-up husbands joke about how their wives don’t let go of things. I heard a comedian say, “She’s like an alligator, eyes just above the surface, waiting. It may be three years, but out of nowhere, bam! She nails you with some mistake you made.”
It’s not just wives. Husbands do that too, just clumsier; we have no finesse. My wife and I were on a long drive back home. We were chatting when a topic came up, and bam! Some bit of a memory came to mind, and I started to say something, but stopped. She said, “Just say it!” So, I did. Husbands, if your wife says, “Say it.” Don’t! It’s a trap! She’s five moves ahead of you on your marriage chessboard.
I said it. Immediately, I realized that I’d been holding that beachball underwater for a very long time. So long that I’d forgotten I was suppressing it. I had told Jesus I’d forgiven her, but in that instant I saw that there had been no change in me, just suppression.
We Need Discipline and Change
As those of us who are in love with Jesus, we need change, not suppression. I am not saying that we are not to put our full effort into holiness.
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. - Hebrews 12:14
We must “make every effort.” We must apply discipline to our lives, our thoughts, our intents. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.“ (Mark 8:34) In the Biblical Greek, “deny” means to deny utterly, as in disown, abstain. That sounds like suppression, but discipline is creating “spiritual muscle memory.”
Still, that “deny” is not exactly the same as a change within us. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 NLT) Real change must take place in us; it must start with a brand new life, like that of a baby.
We start out as a newborn, but as we continue to live in this world, Jesus only allows us to collect some dust on our feet; dust easily and regularly washed off. However, we often collect thoughts, attitudes, and unrighteousness that we add to the “light burden” Jesus gave us. This extra weight weighs us down, makes us weak, and causes us to fall behind in our race. These extra weights can only be removed by changes in us; suppressing doesn’t work.
Repentance Transforms
And how do we effect change? How do we let the air out of our beachball? This change only comes through repentance. Repentance transforms suppression into change. Even if the seed came from someone else, its fruit of sin can only be removed by repentance, for only repentance brings true change. The word repentance in the Bible literally means “to change one’s mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge.” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary) And, Eerdmans Bible Dictionary defines repentance as: “In its fullest sense it is a term for a complete change of orientation involving a judgment upon the past and a deliberate redirection for the future.”
Repentance is change, but this change requires a supernatural intervention from God. In 1 John 1:9, we find, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.“ Notice the “cleansing.” That’s God’s supernatural intervention. Only He can do that.
Jesus as Our Lord
So, the question is, “How long will you hold that beachball underwater?” Letting the air out means letting that “thing” out. Once you release it, it is no longer yours to use or control. Releasing it removes it as a burden in your life. I pray that we all find the things in us that we are suppressing and release them to Jesus. Only by allowing Him to replace suppression with change will Jesus be our Lord.