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“Then I let it all out; I said, I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.” Suddenly the pressure was gone – my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.” Psalm 32:5 (The Message)

The joy of forgiveness is only birth in authentic confession. Sounds simple – we confess, He forgives and we live happily ever after. It’s so easy to simply come to Jesus and say: “I’m sorry for what I did or please forgive my sins.” True confession, however, stems from a specific acknowledgement of our disobedience. In other words – name it, confess it and turn from it.

It’s so easy to grab grace on the go and dismiss the holiness of God’s character. It’s more comfortable to be general than specific because then we would have to admit our wrongs and turn from them. Much more pleasant to minimize or excuse our actions versus coming clean with Jesus.

Recently, I have been challenged to name one of my sins – disunity. Faced with a challenging person, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon of complaining and grumbling. Sad thing is this person is a believer – double strike against me. Rather than continuing to join in with the critics, I’ve had to confess that my words have not been uplifting or building up this person. I’ve just sung the same song as everyone else. And God’s word is very specific about disunity among believers and criticism. When I confessed my sin and truly repented, I experienced the beauty of God’s forgiveness.

“Will I sin again? In my flesh, I am sure I will but learning to confess my sins by name propels me to walk closer in obedience. It frees me from the clutter of dirt residing in my heart that clogs my relationship with God. It opens up the prayer lines so that God can draw near to me. Instead of drowning in sin, I can dance in the joy of God’s forgiveness.

“Sweet Jesus, I would much rather vaguely excuse away my wrongs then name them one by one. But I know that You long to break the chains of bondage that so easily pulls us down. Help each of us to evaluate and respond to Your conviction over the things in our lives that displease You.”

For His Glory

Janet Martin
TRBC Women’s Life