If We Confess

“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” 1 John 1:9

In modern American culture, we don’t care much for the word sin. We prefer “mistakes” or “shortcomings”, but sin is so much more than a mistake or a shortcoming. Sin is an abomination against a holy God. Sin is the very thing that separates us from the presence of God. Sin has to be dealt with in order for us to know God in the way God wants to be known. We have to turn away from sin and turn toward God.

But you can’t turn away from something you have not acknowledged. Forgiveness would be meaningless if we never acknowledged our sin. If you say, “I forgive you,” but I don’t acknowledge that I have done anything wrong, there can be no forgiveness. 

I remember learning about sin when I was a young girl. I was pretty strong-willed, not the type who was quick to acknowledge that I had done anything wrong. But I learned that we should ask God for forgiveness for our sins. My response to that was, “What if we haven’t done anything wrong?” A wise Bible teacher said this to me, “Maybe when you pray, you could ask God to show you if you have done something wrong. If anything comes to mind, ask God to forgive you.” I thought it was worth a try (although I was pretty sure I would come up empty). 

That night as I lay on my bed, I began to pray, “Lord, if I have done anything that you would consider a sin, would you please show me?” I was quite surprised at the list of things that began to surface - a word I had spoken, an attitude, a thought, or an action. (And that was just the first day!) I began to make a practice of asking God to reveal my sins to me so that I could confess them to Him and ask for His forgiveness. 

Every one of us has sinned against God and needs to be forgiven. The good news is if we acknowledge and confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.