Confession

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23

I have a confession to make. I’m a sinner. I’ve sinned many times in my life. I have temptations that I deal with daily, and I struggle to fight against them. Why am I telling you that? Because you have the same confession that you need to make. No one living on this earth today will be able to look back at their life and say, “I lived this life perfectly and never sinned once.” Our nature from birth is to explore and find our boundaries, and we inevitably will lean toward sin.

This doesn’t change as we get older. The only difference is that our sins move more from curiosity to disobedience. As adults, we tend to be arrogant about our knowledge and wisdom, thinking we know what’s best and what’s right for ourselves. The truth, however, is something completely different, and, when we sin, we almost always keep it a secret.

The problem with that is similar to the need for a steam release valve on a pressure cooker. Eventually, you have to release the steam that has built up in the pressure cooker, or you are in for a nasty surprise when you open it up. Sin, when allowed to fester, will eventually come out. How it comes out is up to you. The Bible has very clear instructions on this.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16

Today, we’re talking about the “C” in the A.C.T.S. of prayer, confession. Confession of sins is of extreme importance in the life of a Christian. There are benefits to it that allow us to grow as disciples and live in the kind of freedom that Christ has laid out for us. First off, confession breeds trust. When we confess our sins to one another, there’s nothing to hide. It gives a level playing field to you and those you are close to. They know that you aren’t hiding anything from them. Then there is the relief we feel from not having to hide. For many, hidden sin is the one thing that keeps them withdrawn from the body of Christ. We think to ourselves, “If they only knew who I REALLY am, they wouldn’t want me around. They would think less of me.” But the truth is, when we willingly confess to one another, we don’t need to hide in the shadows, and we can work through our sin together.

If it’s so important to confess sin to one another, then how much more important is it that we confess our sins to God? Now I know you may be thinking, “God already knows everything. Why would I have to confess to Him, when He already knows?” The truth is, He demands it. 

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and His word is not in us.
1 John 1:8–10

I’ve battled weight loss my whole life, and I always had excuses as to why I’m overweight. However, it wasn’t until recently that I finally had to confess out loud to God that I was the reason I was overweight. I couldn’t control my appetite. I couldn’t say no to plate number two, or number three, and sometimes number 4. It was through confession that I was brought face to face with my sin of gluttony. That’s why Jesus tells us to say this in the Lord’s Prayer.

“…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Matthew 6:12

Confession leads to forgiveness, and we NEED forgiveness. Unfortunately, most of us never really receive forgiveness, because we never really confess our sin. If we’re being 100% honest, most of us avoid talking to God about our sin, because of our guilt over it. We dance around it, but never talk with God honestly about it.

My father told me years ago that the biggest forgiveness blocker there is, is ourselves. We think our sin is too big for God to handle, and we won’t give Him the opportunity to forgive us. However, Christ’s blood was shed for EVERY sin. That includes yours and mine, and we should be willing to confess our sins to him through prayer any time we bow our heads and close our eyes. He wants to hear us. He wants to forgive us. He wants us to feel the freedom that confession of our sins can bring. Trust me, He can handle it.