I am Josh Duggar

I went to church with the Duggars the Sunday before this latest scandal broke loose. At church, the pastor invited the whole Duggar family to come up, sing a song, and share their testimony.

I sat there and listened to Jim Bob as he praised his son, Josh. He went on about how he was and is a changed man. He went on about how Josh is a great godly man, who no longer struggles with this sin. And Josh stood there, nodding his head in agreement as he held one of his children.

When I first heard that Josh had an Ashley Maddison account, I didn’t believe it. But then he admitted it, causing me to be filled with disgust.

I defended Josh on May 22. I wrote a blog praising him. I was filled with disgust, because what kind of person stands there and listens to their father praise them, when they know what’s truly going on. What kind of person lets their family, friends, and fans defend them, when they know the truth.

But then it hit me. I am that person. I am Josh Duggar.

Now sure, I don’t struggle with the same types of sins as Josh, but I still struggle with sinning, and I always will. Josh’s sins are not worse than mine. They are equal in the eyes of God.

I am Josh Duggar because I too let people praise me and defend me while I stand there acting like everything is fine. I put up this front and act like I don’t struggle with sin that much- especially the super bad sins that no one ever wants to talk about, because if I admit that I do struggle with them, I must not be that great of a Christian.

We believe that lie- that lie that the devil so loves to tell us! The lie that we have to keep our deepest, darkest sins to ourselves. Because if we ever confess, people will hate us.

But that’s not true. I think we often forget that we are ALL sinners. We forget that we ALL fall short of the glory of God. We ALL need a savior, that’s why Jesus came.

We’re not perfect, so I think it’s time that we stop acting like we are. I think we all need to be more vulnerable. I think we all need to be more open about those “super bad sins” that we struggle with.

Now this doesn’t mean that we confess them to the whole world. I’m not asking anyone to do that. What I’m asking is that we, as a church, start talking about the taboo sins. If we never talk about them, how are they supposed to be fixed?

What I’m asking takes humility. It requires us coming to the end of ourselves. It requires the desire for change.

But when we humble ourselves, when we lessen ourselves, Christ increases. Christ begins to shine through the darkness. He takes something so dark and broken, and turns it into something beautiful, something that can be used for His glory.

Today, let Christ turn your “deepest, darkest sins” into something beautiful- something to be used for His glory.