I had to look these two verses up for my Bible study this morning:
Proverbs 28:13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The idea of God cleansing me from all unrighteousness has comforted me for years. I love that He wants us to confess our sins. He wants us to be honest with Him, even with the ugliest part of who we are. It is so interesting to me that in sharing our sin, exposing it, revealing it, we find healing. God wants us to be real with Him and with each other. All part of that love thing.
Of course, I don't think we need to confess our sin to everyone in the whole world, some people haven't come face to face with their own sin yet and they are not usually the merciful kind. We need to let God lead us to someone who will love us through our struggle.
Is there anything you have learned about confession that you would be willing to share?
4 comments:
It's best to confess to God IMMEDIATELY when He convicts us,and then also to others who may have been affected by it AS SOON AS we're able to (see Mt. 5:22-23).
Waiting NEVER makes anything better!! Doing that only places us in danger of developing a 'seared conscience', not to mention multiplying the sin by denial and doing whatever may become necessary to 'cover it up'.
David's mistake at that was obvious, but we can do exactly the same kinds of things on a more 'acceptable' scale, sadly ={.
Dana
Thank you Dana! I agree with you 100%. :) I wish it didn't take so long to sort out all the junk (or let God sort it out) in our hearts sometimes. But when we know we are convicted, yep, better take care of it.
I find that when I confess my sin to God, and He forgives me, there is such a healing cleansing that comes over me....that being said, I also find that if I have an accountability parter(s), and I agree with you...you don't need to tell everyone..but if you have one or two trusted friends that you can confess your sin to, it helps me to not fall into that sin so easily in the future...I have God and a good friend or two keeping me on the "straight and narrow". It's hard to confess to a friend, and that hardness is what helps to not do it again...the embarrassment of having to confess it again makes me not jump into it so easily again...Does that make sense?
That totally makes sense. That is how God taught me to quit lying all the time about stupid stuff. I had to confess it to whoever I lied to. It was so embarrassing I didn't do it very long! :)
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