Confession is good for the soul, they say. If it’s so good, how come nobody does it?
I’ve heard a lot of confessions made at church over the years. Most of them go something like this: “I’ve not been the Christian I should be. I’ve struggled and let folks down. Please pray for me.” There’s nothing wrong with this confession, but it’s not really confessing much. There’s not a single Christian who couldn’t make that confession. None of us are always the Christians we should be. All of us struggle. Everyone fails somebody sometime—and we certainly all need prayer!
I suggest this week that you confess something—something real, something meaningful, to someone you know and love. I suggest you then confess to God.
In New York City a few years ago an art student created a project that sparked great public interest. It’s called Post Secret. People were given addressed post cards with a blank backside—and asked to share a secret that nobody else knew. The results have been incredible—so much that several books have now been published containing these revealed secrets. People have confessed almost everything: fears, dreams, hopes, abuses, crimes, and psychoses! People were thrilled at an opportunity to get something off their chests.
The thing that saddens me most about these books is that these confessions were made to no one. They were made to an uncaring public, to a book publisher. There is no support for the individual. There is no relationship. There is no forgiveness.
That’s not how Christian confession works; it is an immensely personal experience. It is humbling and pride-crushing. It is a key element to salvation and it is necessary for Christian fellowship. See what passages like Romans 10:9-10 and 1 John 1:9-10 can do, lived in your life this week.