As a child I was always up to something. Usually it involved mischief. I guess I was a typical boy. I had a bike. I always wanted to ride where I was told not to ride. Usually the road looked like the best place to ride. Traffic was not really one of my interests. I believed they would be careful not to hit me. I had brothers. We had friendly fights almost every day. My brothers usually started all the arguments. I just knew I was the innocent party. It was always someone else who started the fight. After things went wrong the first thing I heard was " Tell me what happened". I started with excuses and ended with confession. The results were usually the same. I am 68 years old now. When I was a child punishment did not mean a "Time Out". I would not have known what a time out meant. Punishment was a little more harsh. There is a matter of spiritual confession. We need to confess our sins to God in prayer. We also need to confess to our fellow Christians. We need God's forgiveness and also forgiveness from those we have wronged. The Bible says we need to confess our sins to each other and to pray for each other.
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"The Bible says we need to confess our sins to each other and to pray for each other."
You know, I've never really done that and probably never will, despite what the scriptures say. It's a shame, but most of the "Christians" I know would pretend they didn't have any sins, but would be appalled at "other people's" sins. Most would then gossip about those honest enough to confess. As a result, God hears all of mine that I'm aware of, but only God. I wish that I could feel differently about the situation, but I've seen too many cases of it to expect otherwise. Sorry to lend such a negative note to such an upbeat site.
Hello John,
Confession is an important aspect of the life of all Christians. Confession is what enables me to receive God's forgiveness. Confession and forgiveness are paired for a reason.
Gorges raises a valid point regarding the behavior of others regarding confession but I don't believe that confession has to be an advertisement. Do I need to broadcast my sins or is sharing my sins with someone I trust a better option? Knowing that a friend will not look at me differently because I've shared something about myself helps in the area of relationship building.
Of course, confessing just for the sake of confessing is no better than taking communion out of habit. Confession must initiate change in my life as well; confession should characterize the path of correction. Whatever we do, it must be done in faith, trusting that God is pleased.
We must not allow ourselves to focus solely on the negative things others say and do that occur in life. Instead, we must realize that each new breath, new moment and new day brings forth the opportunity to be a vessel for God; demonstrating His love, grace, truth and forgiveness through us.
MTJ
Forgiveness is a beautiful thing...
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