So today is day three of Lent and the topic is once again a hard-hitting subject. Today’s text was on the subject of confession. This is something we evangelicals want to leave up to the Catholics to do, but no where in the bible does it say this is not of the utmost importance in the life of every Christian. The text for today is as follows:
Day 3 :: Friday, March 11, 2011, Confession
Confession is the practice of owning up to our sin. When we confess our sin, we are agreeing with God about the gravity of sin and acknowledging that our sin has crippled our relationship with Him.
1 John 1:9 says, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Not confessing our sins causes us to deceive ourselves into thinking we are right with God. But, when we come clean about our sin before God, He will always forgive us.
Confessing the sin in our lives not only restores our relationship with God, but also reminds us of our brokenness and shows to us the power of Christ’s sacrifice in covering our sin. We have been rescued from sin, and the practice of confession reveals to us the cost of our sin.
- Have you made the practice of confession a priority in your life?
- What sins have you been holding on to that you need to come clean to God about?
Begin the practice of confession in your life today.
Contemplation Over Day 3
I took a quick look at this day and thought what in the world am I going to write for this day on my blog (I am keeping two separate journals for Lent by the way). I think it’s human nature to look at another person’s sin, or wonder about another person’s sin, speaking of my own (see Luke 6:42 for one). When I am sitting in a service or listening to a sermon podcast and a pastor talks about the sin in his life, the first thing I think is, “I wonder what that sin is?, he’s such a ‘good’ person”.
That’s what I’m going to do here today. I’m reminded of Matthew 6:6 (when you pray, go into a room and shut the door) where we are taught how some prayer is private, and although some sins do need confession before the Church body, today’s reading talks about our need for daily confession before God. I do think confession largely lost in our evangelical churches today. We rarely talk about it on Sunday mornings.
I know in my own life God is constantly refining my heart’s desires. Every day is a battle that started a long time ago, one where God continues to remove the blackness of my heart to replace it with clean tissue. A huge part of that comes from acknowledging our sin, repentantly confessing that sin to God, and knowing, God will forgive us when we ask.
