Confession

Posted on November 20, 2009 12:00 AM MST by Sara Richardson

“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.”      I John 1:8-9

Even though I’m not Catholic, I believe in confession. Not necessarily the whole ritual of stepping into a booth and discussing my failings and poor decisions with a priest, but I do believe in going to those I have offended and asking for forgiveness. Sometimes the only one I’ve wronged is God. A prideful attitude. An ungrateful heart. Sometimes it’s someone  I have hurt. With words. By my actions. My husband, my kids. Whatever the situation, I’ve got plenty of experience with confession. As someone who tends to be somewhat quick to speak, believe me, I do this quite regularly. 

For so long I thought that confession was more about judgment than anything else, but the more I’ve done it, the more I’ve realized that confession is a gift to us. A plan to free us. Every time I have humbled my heart in confession, I have been met with grace and acceptance. By God. By my family. By friends.

Isn’t it freeing to know that we are not expected to be perfect? We are not expected to always make the right decision, to always choose the right words, to always be at our best. God has accounted for our imperfections. We simply need to keep struggling against the sins that seek to destroy us. Perfection is not attainable, but grace is. Our father does not expect us to be on our best behavior all the time. He already knows we’ll make mistakes. He loves us in spite of the fact that we have brought him shame. Loves us even though he knows full well that we will shame him again and again.

The best thing we can do is claim our sins as our own and lay them down before the one who has conquered them. Let God lift these weighty burdens off of our weary backs and cast them into the depths of all that is forgotten. The danger is not in the sin we struggle with on a daily basis—God has already delivered us from it. The danger is when we try to hide our sin, deny our sin, or justify our sin as part of who we are. Because then we continue to hold onto it. And God will never take anything from our hands that we are not willing to give.

Confession is not about judgment, it’s about freedom.

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