Prior to this trip I never put much
weight on the importance of confession and repentance. I thought confession and repentance was
something you did when you accepted Christ for the first time and after that
you were golden. But as I’m writing this
blog, I have to confess that my view on the subject was folly.
I would
say that my mistake is due in large part to the fact that I didn’t really
understand what confession and repentance really meant.
Psa
38:18 ESV I confess my iniquity; I am
sorry for my sin.
Psalm 38:18 is a beautiful picture of what confession and
repentance really is.
Confession
is just what it sounds like. Confessing
that we are sinners and that Jesus’ blood paid for our sins is the foundation
of our salvation. While confessing our
sin is required for our salvation, our continual confession of specific sins is
of huge importance in our walk with Christ.
Rom
6:22a ESV But now that you have been set
free from sin and have become slaves of God…
Scripture says that we have been set free from sin. I’ve learned a lot on this trip. One of those things is that if there is
anything in your life that you refuse to bring into the “light”; due to fear or
shame. You are a slave to it. The continual confession of our sins to God
and others is how we walk in the freedom that Christ offers us.
Due to this, I have been
encouraging the team to confess our sins to each other in a group setting. Since beginning this, I have noticed that
certain divisions in our team have diminished.
I have also noticed that personal relationships within the team have
improved. So what’s the nutshell? If you want your relationship to go deeper,
whether it is with God or others, confess your iniquities to them.
God’s grace is the magnificent
catalyst that gives confession so much power.
But so often, that grace is abused by people who confess their sins…but
are unrepentant. Repentance is not the
decision to never sin again. As it says
in the last half of Psalm 38:18, repentance is the desire to not sin anymore. So many of us continue eagerly in our sin,
with no remorse for it. We then think
that confessing it to God is our little “get out of jail free” card. If you read the gospels closely, Jesus never
says that.
Mat
4:17 ESV From that time Jesus began to
preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus was much more concerned with repentance then
confession. Is it really that
surprising? Jesus was always more
concerned with the heart, then with our actions or words. True repentance begins in the heart and can’t
be faked. True repentance coupled with
the acknowledgement of your sins is what saves you.
God
loves us so much, that He doesn’t think His only son’s life is too high of a
cost for ours. That is the costly grace
that Dietrich Bonheoffer speaks of. The
grace of the gospel is a costly grace. If
it cost God much, then it should cost us much as well. Costly grace is costly because it must be
sought again and again. It is also
costly because it costs you your life, but it also gives you the only true
life.
So I
encourage you all to make confession and repentance a daily habit. Confess your sins to God and to your friends
with a repentant heart and by doing so die to yourself. Only then will you be able to walk in the
freedom and power that Christ promises us.
But never think that one is sufficient without the other. Confession empowers repentance and repentance
legitimizes confession.
So if
you are lacking the courage or humility to confess then pray for it. If you have a hard unrepentant heart, I pray
that God will use my words to break it.
Because costly grace is costly because it’s worth it.
