Section #2: Confession

Ok, I know.  The very thought of confession may make your skin crawl.  I know some people associate this idea with the act of confession done before a priest, and that may conjure lovely or painful emotions.  But it’s pretty clear in the Bible that confession should be a regular part of a believer’s life.  Why?  

Unconfessed sin is us turning our back on God and His ways.  It creates a barrier between us and God.  It clogs up the pipeline of communication.  Dims His voice.  And the longer we engage in sinful behavior patterns, the farther we stray from the righteousness He desires for us.  The harder our hearts become.  Bad news all around.  

Here’s the good news: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).  Read that one more time.  No matter where you are on your faith journey, those words should feel like a big ol’ cold drink of water.  Yes, we are forgiven and purified…all we have to do it confess with a repentant heart.  I love the Psalmist’s description of dealing with a guilty conscience: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:3, 5).  God’s ways are the roadmap to our best life!  Sorry, it’s not Oprah or her gurus.  The only way to live your best life is to stay on the path of righteous obedience.  I know it’s not PC, but it’s the truth.  Sin eats away at our very soul.  But there is a cure: Confession.

So every day I spend time in this section.  I use it in many ways, but the gist is that the prompts and verses in this section force me to take inventory of my last 24 hours (since my last confession!) and get right with the Lord.  I want to keep a short account.  I want to catch sinful behavior before it becomes habits.  I want to keep my heart soft and my ears open to the voice of the Lord.

If I need a little prompting, I can ask my husband for what I need to confess (he’s always got something he can point out!), or read over the two passages of scripture included—and I don’t have to read very far before I have lots of material to confess.  If I need a little help getting started, the included Psalms give words to the groanings of my soul.  And if I need a little assurance that my sin is indeed forgiven, I have verses to speak that truth as well.

I have some of my usual suspect sins written down in this section.  I find that writing it down makes it real and forces me to deal with it!  I also think it’s cool to see, over time, that the junk I used to struggle with doesn’t really tempt me like it used to.  I can actually see my spiritual growth over time which daily might seem like it’s going too slow to recognize.

There have been a few times when I feel such guilt and regret over a sinful decision that I spend all my prayer time in this section.  I may write out a prayer of confession and apology to God, and I like the idea I’ve heard about taking that and ripping it up and throwing it away as a reminder that the Lord throws our sin “as far as the east is from the west”! (Psalm 103:12).  

One final note.  I believe that Jesus is our High Priest and the only one we need to confess to in order to claim forgiveness is Him.  We do that through prayer.  That said, I believe sometimes it’s important to confess to someone else.  I hope you have a person in your life you trust enough to do this.  My husband and I actually pray out loud in front of each other every night.  While it can be a little humiliating to confess sins in front of him, this has created so much intimacy and accountability in our marriage that I can’t recommend it highly enough.

You may find other tools helpful that you can click into this section, and please do!  But whatever you do, don’t give in to the temptation to skip this section.  It’s vital to a thriving spiritual life.