Confession of Sin

February 9, 2013

             We may not always like it but the central truth of Romans 3:23 is inescapable in human life. Everyone in this world has sinned. We have all fallen short of God’s ideals for our lives. Verse 24 continues on to remind us that, in spite of our sinful nature, we have God’s grace to pick up the slack and redeem us in Jesus Christ.

            Few Christians would argue with the essential teaching of these two verses. We may not always agree on what sin really looks like. We may not always think the same regarding how serious or insignificant a sin may be. We may not always expect the same consequences for sinfulness in our lives. We may not have the same understanding of how sin is to be handled within the Christian community of faith.

            This presents a problem for Christianity. We may agree in principle that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory while giving thanks to God for the grace of Christ, but when we get hung up over the many legitimate disagreements and theological differences regarding sin, its universal nature is quickly lost in the debate.

            The Bible offers us some very practical and essential guidance regarding sin—Godly council that we frequently do not like to hear or follow. James 5:16 equates confession of sin to one another as an essential element of Divine Healing and Comfort. Proverbs 28:13 associates confession with mercy and prosperity. Psalm 51 eloquently (and painfully) expresses David’s heartfelt confessional heart once he was forced to confront his own sins.

            The Bible calls for confession, but Christians also believe that nothing is beyond God’s sight. Confessing a sin does not provide God with any additional information or tell God anything that God did not already know. This reality has motivated some to think that confession of sin really serves no vital purpose, as if telling God the obvious would be a waste of God’s time or a uselessly redundant activity.

            Confession, however, is not for God—it is for you and me. There are two essential realities that come from confession. When we take the time to examine our hearts and truly seek out the sins which separate us from a closer relationship with God, it opens our souls to powerful Holy Spirit transformation. Through prayerful confession we see beyond the sin and find the power to overcome it.

            Spiritually powerful confession also goes beyond the secrecy and privacy of the prayer time with God alone. When we humbly confess our sins to a trusted believer, it helps establish a means of accountability for overcoming the sin. Praying and working together in faith, two confessing sinners become a powerful force for healing, transformation, and spiritual power in Jesus Christ.

            A central point behind confession is that it must be personal. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 7 that it does no good for us to focus on the “speck” of sin in our neighbor’s eye if we are not first willing to deal with the “log” of sin in our own eye. This is vital in a world where the sinfulness around us is so easy to call out. As followers of Jesus Christ, Biblical confession demands that we trust in the conviction of the Holy Spirit to root out other people’s sins. Our prayerful focus must be on our own sins.

            This Wednesday begins a prolonged period of such personal self-reflection. Ash Wednesday will be for many faithful Christians the beginning of transformation from sin! 

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