Confessing sins doesn’t come naturally. Most of us can eventually bring ourselves to confess to the Lord, to our spouse, or to a parent. However, we’re definitely resistant to James’ instruction, “…confess your sins to each other.” (James 5:16 NIV) Not only do we not readily confess to one another, but I don’t know if I’ve ever been asked to hear the confession of another. Our Catholic friends may have a certain level of comfort in that they can have confession in a box, but I have to give them credit, at least they have made an attempt to highlight the need for confession.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Tell me a story. What are you going to do? If you are like me, the first thing that will come to mind is how good am I at telling stories? Can I do this well? When my daughters were children, sometimes they used to ask me for stories. I knew I was not good at it, and I would first tell them that. But in granting their desires, I would then ponder what kind of story would be relevant to the mood they were in. Did it need to be scary, happy, sad, enlightening, or just gratuitously entertaining? Whatever the story’s relevance would be to their mood became the purpose for telling it. The purpose would then direct the selection and delivery of the story.
-----The Biblical treatment of confession is very similar. Most of the admiration I have for the Catholic practice of confession and the Presbyterian practice of a congregational confession in each worship service regards the maintenance of a mental attitude these practices evoke. John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (I John 1:8-10) The imperative John states about confessing our sins is embedded within the context of admitting that we do sin. This admission is the fundamental nature of confession, and it is done to the Lord, to ourselves, and to others. But what makes it so fundamental is its relevance and purpose. It is very real that we all have habits that are not right in the light of the Word. We know we should not do them, and for the most part, we don’t. But in bad circumstances, here comes the anger. Have you ever noticed those opportunities to talk down the price of a transaction which is already a great deal? Proverbs looks askance upon even that. We are all made of multitudes of habits that are not just right before the Lord, if not behavioral bad habits, then certainly mental and emotional bad habits. How do we live with what we are made of (at least for the time being until we defeat it?) We have two choices. We either claim it is ok to do them, which denies the Word and repels forgiveness, or we can claim the Word is correct about our errors, which attracts the forgiveness. Our choice becomes the way we think about ourselves, and the latter choice is confession become a mental and emotional attitude, much like the ability to tell a story well.
-----But confession often must be made to others, as you noted James’ imperative. If we confessed every error we recognized, the most of our time would be spent doing it. That is where relevance comes in. Not so much relevance to the one erring, but much more importantly, relevance to the one wronged. Our charge is to build up one another, not ourselves. So we must look to what others deem relevant more than what we ourselves deem relevant. And from that relevance comes the purpose. Will the confession aim more at “I’m sorry” or at actual repair of damages.
-----Confession is merely an element of fellowship. But it is an important one, like baking powder. It is as necessary in preparing biscuits for the delivery of their nutrition as it is in preparing cakes for the delivery of their delights. But in either case, it serves the same function of making fellowship rise to a fluffy joy.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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