Confession of sin is more than good for the soul; it is required by God as a command that is to precede repentance when seeking forgiveness. We sin when we disobey God’s word and we are not to remain in our sin and just passively accept that we are sinners as if the Lord has not called us to something better.
We are commanded by God to struggle against our sin, to be broken hearted about our sin, to humble ourselves and confess that we have in fact sinned and will determine to not commit that sin again.
King David says, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah’” (Psalm 32:5).
The Apostle John tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
These are more than suggestions that we might aspire to try someday but rather the people of God, great men of faith following the command of God found in the book of Numbers, “When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess his sins which he has committed” (Numbers 5:6-7).
This command of the Lord is not to be ignored and just because our tradition has not called for the confession of sin, does not mean we are exempt. There are many places in the New Testament that reinforce the command to confess our sins and we are obligated to obey.
Confession is the first true step to repentance and Jesus calls on us to repent many times in the gospels and we also find that it was a part of John the Baptist’s ministry, as they came to be “baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins” (Mark 1:5)
Strength training is difficult, I find that exercising this middle aged body is a challenge at best most days and something I try often to get out of doing. The same is true of spiritual disciplines, our flesh fights against us and confession that we are wrong and have sinned makes us angry.
True confession forces us to make our flesh submit to the will of God, we don’t need another person to confess but we are to admit our sins out loud to the Lord and bring our nature into submission to Him.
It is good to have mature brothers or sisters in the Lord that we can confess and share our burdens with, but we need to be sure of their trustworthiness so that our confessions are not used against us.
Take time each day, through out the day, to deal with your sin as you commit it. I know some will say that it is all covered by the blood and it is true that Jesus paid the price for our sin, but we are still called to recognize the authority of God in our lives and the best way to do this is to obey Him by confessing your sin and bringing your flesh, your sin nature under that authority, capturing every stray thought so that it is in submission to God and you can walk in the light as He is in the light.
