Running From Honest Confession
A man who confesses his sins is doing something like this. In prayer to God, he names the sin he has committed, and he takes care to use the same name that the Bible uses. He does this because he is repentant and has turned away from that sin, rejecting it entirely. He thanks God for His promised forgiveness, and resolves by God’s grace to make restitution where restitution is appropriate. Restitution is necessary with sins like lying, theft, open bitterness, and sexual infidelity.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13).
We must first consider what confession of sin is and is not. Unless we think properly about this, we will stumble, and instead of receiving help from our confession, we will get ourselves into a horrible mess.
