Scripture Reading: Ezra 9:4-9, Psalm 32:1-5, Proverbs 28:13, Colossians 3:12-17, James 5:16, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 1:5-10
I’m not a dog guy, but I’ve heard about a disciplinary strategy for when a dog uses the living room carpet as a bathroom. The technique involves rubbing its face in the muck in order to make the pup associate the rebuke with the actual infraction. I imagine a person on their hands and knees holding Fido’s face up to the incriminating evidence, gritting their teeth, and berating the poor beast: “Look what you’ve done! Bad boy! Bad, bad boy!” This seems pretty mean, but I get the logic: You push the pup’s nose within an inch of the puddle it made so that some version of doggie shame will strike so deeply that it’ll never make the same mistake again.
Does this actually work on dogs? This shame-based discipline has the opposite effect on me. When I wallow in my mistakes, or when others hold my nose (so to speak) to the mess I’ve made, I feel guilt for what I’ve done and shame for who I am. I internalize the idea that my error is emblematic of my core filthiness. I convict myself of being the human equivalent of a badly misplaced pile of excrement.
When we see ourselves as base, unforgivable creatures, our subsequent choices reflect the verdict and perpetuate the behavior. And if we ostracize ourselves because of our shame, we find new and creative ways to defile the living room carpet, as it were, landing us in an even deeper pile of our own making.
We need a better tool than shame and better recourse than isolation to deal with sin.
The Lord gives us confession as a means of acknowledging our sin and pursuing restoration with Jesus, and He gives us a community of believers with whom we can share the holy journey from conviction to confession, from repentance to redemption.
If sitting and festering in our own filth is a losing strategy for a healthy life; sitting in it alone is a near guarantee of inevitable spiritual death.
These passages in Ezra, Colossians, and 1 John demonstrate the corporate nature of confession and the power of the body of Christ when it comes to stepping out of darkness into light, out of filth and into fitness for His holy presence. The liberating nature of confession and the healing properties that come with God’s forgiveness are powerfully articulated by the apostle James: “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).
God isn’t interested in rubbing our faces in our own filth. Yes, He wants us to acknowledge our sin but not to shame us. Confession is simply an essential element of repentance, and repentance conditions us to receive His forgiveness. As such, confession is no longer a scary part of being castigated by our master; it is a necessary rhythm for messy children who need the tireless mercy of their Father.
And, oh, “how joyful is the one…whose sin is covered!” (Psalm 32:1).
Written by Alex Florez
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45 thoughts on "Confession"
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Always acknowledge our sins to God and confessing that we are sinners and always reminding ourselves of what Jesus did for us on the cross for the iniquity of our sins. Confess to the Almighty God that you have sinned against Him and brothers and sisters that I have also sinned in my thoughts and words in what I have not done. Confession isn’t just about the things we have done or seen or have heard from others but it’s also the hidden away ones of the thought and my mind
Amen my sins are forgiven not shamed but forgiven. Thank you my God
Funny, I had to clean up two bulldog carpet accidents. Frustrating it is but I don’t believe in shaming dogs. She’s getting old and I give her grace and love. If I let the mess sit, it’s going to stink. Same applies to sin, thanks be to God for delivering me out of my mess. AA Step 10 says “we continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.”
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Psalm 32:5, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
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This brings to mind the Confiteor, ( latin for I confess, a memory from my school days)
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I confess to Almighty God,
and to you my brothers and sisters, that i have sinned in thoughts and in my words, and in what I have failed to do;
through my fault, through my fault, through my grievous fault;
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Confession is not just about things done that was seen or heard by others, but also the hidden ones of thought and in mind,, and in life there is a lot of thinking.
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Lord, i pray that my thoughts are more about you than they are about the wrong things.. Amen.
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Just found this unfinished comment.. oops..x
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Good reminder today!
I know that God forgives us when we confess our sins to Him. In fact, I know He washes them away and doesn’t even remember them anymore. They’re gone. As far as the east is from the west. But forgiving myself is a whole other story. I think damage done by the wrong church in childhood can impact our thinking for the rest of our lives. So, I can’t let go of sins from childhood and from my younger adulthood. Sometimes, I imagine God hearing me confess sins from long ago, and can just hear Him saying, “Yes, Teresa, I forgave you for that 40 years ago. Why do you keep bringing it up? Go. And sin no more.” I pray He will help me stop holding on to sins He forgave long ago.
All your comments today were so helpful.
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I love that I can confess my son and experience God’s forgiveness. I sometimes have a hard time forgiving myself though.
Me, too, Jennifer. ❤️
Amen!! ❤️❤️❤️
“God Only Knows”
“God only knows what you been through…God only knows what they say about you…God only knows how it’s killing you…But there’s a kind of LOVE that God only knows…”
King & Country, featuring Dolly Parton.
….we can start over …
Amen. ❤️
“Confession is no longer a scary part of being castigated by our master; it is a necessary rhythm for messy children who need the tireless mercy of their Father”. I love this. It is a great perspective in parenting for me. Last week my daughter cried when I caught her doing something she was not supposed to, and I investigated, she burst into tears and said, will you punish me if I tell you the truth. “Messy children need the tireless mercy of their father and mother”. Amen.
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So thankful for the forgiveness and freedom we have because of the grace, mercy of Jesus and all He has done for us. However, i do think often times I need to take my sin more seriously and truly see the magnitude of it and how it separates me from my Heavenly Father. And, I do struggle with idea of confessing to others…thats hard and I know its pride and embarrassment…sigh. Lots to work on in this area for me. Again, thankful for God’s grace and His patience with me.
The verses I think of in relation to sin are ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ 1 John 1:9 and ‘Create in me a clean heart & renew a right spirit within me’ Psalm 51:10
Yes Lord… I’m so thankful for your faithfulness and forgiveness, help my heart to be clean before you. Amen
Yes, I so agree, you always put into words well! We do need to take our sins seriously and repent as needed.
I have learned that it is good to release some of those “awful sins that aren’t so easy to share” with someone. You don’t need to confess to everyone, just someone. I always say as Christians we like to share our “not so bad” sins, but when we share the deeper ones it lets them know how far everyone goes and that their not the only ones. I’m gonna write a book on this one day, lol. Growing up in faith, but my 20 and 30’s of crazy, still claiming I loved Jesus! And I did, but I was not living for him. I also still want to write a book called “letters from jail.” Now I can add my relatives to that book (lol, not lol). We all have redemptions stories, that’s what is so powerful!!
A song share “Mercy” Elevation Worship. And CeeGee likes the version by…who? Um..someone! lol
This was so good today! We have had puppies over the years and I never liked the “rubbing their nose in it!” But when I sin, I have a struggle with guilt, even after confessing it to God. This is very freeing to realize that I can confess it to a fellow believer and ask them to pray for me! Confession is the path to freedom. Usually my si
OH…”how joyful is the one…whose sin is covered!” Psalm 32:1 Needed to hear this this morning!
So many people I know come out of Catholic religion that sin has a whole notha weight and affect to it. They either live with the heaviness of a big mean punishing God where they never can get it right, or they learn that confession is a must every Sunday to get right, then repeat weekly. Which both of those have merit, but it is not legalism. Jesus freed us from that. The old testament did look more like that, but Jesus atoned for it.
But now, we almost swing the opposite way, and live without the conviction of sin. Well, we decide what we feel is right or wrong in God’s eye. But honestly, it’s all about being with him enough in the word, that it naturally becomes known. And we see it quickly and don’t want to go against God and his ways for us. We see that his boundaries are from a loving father that wants good and growth from his child.
We also have something so good as a believer, the Holy Spirit of course, that comes in the very inside of us as a person and gives us wisdom and discernment!
I am not good at saying i’m sorry. Not that I don’t want to, but it’s just hard to speak. I like to show it with a hug and a sad face. lol. But yes, I am working on it!
The more and longer I walk with God the more I love him everyday. I want to share with others that he is loving and good, but also sovereign in his authority. I want to please him because of his mercy and grace, for his generous giving on the cross for this lost sheep.
Lord, thank you for your Mercy and Grace, your tender and everlasting love for us, your daughters. Help us to walk in step with the Spirit. Give us discernment and guidance in all of our choices we make daily, big and small. May we show our gratitude in the way we speak, listen, and act. You are such a good God and love us despite ourselves. Thank you in Jesus’ name.
I am still praying for discernment and wisdom for Brayden, he has court tomorrow morning. Thankful for your prayers for him. It is so much bigger than he can or will even realize in this moment.
Adding my “Thank You and amen to your prayer. Also praying for Brayden’s hearing. I was thinking of him as I read the devo- wondering how often do we seek to shame people into ‘good behavior’ rather than helping them face the darkness that put them there. Michael Jr. did that in the video I mentioned. So good.
Being raised Catholic I can relate. I hated confession as a kid. It scared me to death. But now I try to confess daily to God. Thank you for the prayer!
Praying for Brayden. I am so sorry.
Prayers for Brayden!
Reading about confession today, I think back to growing up in a very strict Roman Catholic family, not necessarily my parents, but my paternal grandmother. And she’s saw confession as punishment, “You have to confess to atone.” In today’s description of confession, what I see is a process that lifts the weight of sin that can fester inside of us, and bring light into us. And while I’m so grateful for that, it makes me wonder if my grandma understood that and if not, how it affected her relationship with God.
Amen!
Amen!
What an amazing way to put the entire process! We see our need for a Savior more clearly when we remember His promise to forgive and cleanse us if we only confess our sins to Him! Thank You Jesus!
Hiding our sinful behavior can cause it to fester and take over. It needs to be brought to the light. This reminds me of my friend’s husband who struggled with a porn addiction. He refused to think anything was wrong with it, refused to talk about it or take accountability for it, and it slowly took over his life to the point that he and my friend separated for a year. Once we can bring these ugly things to God, and can talk about these things with others, we can take accountability and begin to heal. Praying that we can be brave and confess our sins to God as soon as we notice them or when others notice them.
Have a blessed Wednesday!!
I am praising God for today’s devotional which has enabled me see and embrace that confession is not an obligation to a harsh Father but rather a merciful gift from my loving Father.
We forgive because he so graciously forgave us, and continues to forgive despite our consistent shortcomings! Thankful for a God who holds us near and cares for us despite our sins, what a blessing it is to pour it all out to him in the good times and in the hard times and in the times we knew better but fell short!
Have a blessed day friends, grateful for you and this community!
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…”in the times we knew better but fell short” is so true.
Thank you for your mercy and grace, Lord. ❤️
When we confess, we have the hope in us. We live in the New Testament where outsiders (gentiles) like us can have a personal relationship with God. I do believe a healthy balance of feeling ashamed after committing a sin and realizing it afterwards is necessary because it is a alert to us to the uncomfortable feeling so that we will work hard to avoid the sin next time. But we don’t have to drown in shame because we also have the hope of reconciliation with God and a bright future with Him forever.
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Confession is a much-needed reality check. In order to confess, I must be willing to let Holy Spirit examine my heart and show me the sin that lurks there.
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Proverbs 28:13 NLT
“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.”
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So thankful for God’s mercy.
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Praying for your requests
Yes, I think you put it perfectly!
And what a good verse, surprised it wasn’t used in today’s scriptures!
Amen! Good reminder about the Holy Spirit.
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Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10
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Amen, “People who conceal their sins will not prosper” – powerful.
Yes, that’s simple and profound!
Praising our wonderful, merciful God this morning – that He does not hold our sins against us, but lovingly rebukes us when needed and forgives all our trespasses.
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“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
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Amen & Amen!
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Happy Wednesday she’s – have a blessed day! ❤️
Amen! ❤
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