“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 / ESV)
There is much to be said about the man that confess his sins to both God and man. In the bible verse above, from the first epistle that John the elder wrote to the church of Asia minor, we pull from it the importance to confess our sins to God. James writes in his letter to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations (v. 1:1), that we should confess our sins to one another (v. 5:16). So we gather from John the elder and James, the brother of Jesus, that we should confess our sins to, as stated previously, both God and man.
This concept is extremely difficult for some to put in to practice. We, as men, would rather confess to God and pray/trust that He will take care of our sinful nature. The concept behind confessing our sins to one another is that it will put ownership and accountability to the sin. We, having committed and subsequently confessed our sins to our brothers and/or our sisters, are far less apt to become repeat offenders. This is true NOT because we don’t value God’s expectations and commandments that He has in place for us, but rather due to the fact that we are sinful by nature.
Consider when we were children. If we executed our parents’ wishes for us to come to them when we did something wrong before they found out by themselves, valuable lesson ensued and we walked away, respecting our parents and not wanting to disappoint them again in similar fashion. Are you with me so far? Why is this? Because they would inevitably check on us down the road – helping to hold our feet to the fire. Our parents could have and should have been our best and most valuable accountability partners. Don’t feel bad. Mine were not this either. Not for lack of full-hearted attempts though – but more precisely – because I simply did not value them this way. I valued living my life by my feelings and followed the pathways of my friends and their opinions/decisions.
In 2010 I noticed a change in my heart though – with this whole conceptual garbage. As I wanted to draw closer to Jesus, I began feeling both guilt and shame. I felt guilt towards the people that I wronged in my previous thirty-five years of existence, and I felt shame towards myself. The deal with both is that they breed in us this sense of owing someone something. Carrying both guilt and shame is like carrying a debt that is weighty, burdensome on back and shoulders. It’s like having 3 credit cards maxed out except you don’t have the money to make the minimum payment on either and you desperately want to; you cling to the idea of a payment plan that you can afford like you cling to a strand of rope from a cliff that spells eminent death if your fingers loose their grasp.
Andy Stanley writes in a bible devotional this: Nothing less than paying that debt will relieve a guilty heart of its burden of guilt. We can do so many things in our attempt to make us feel better. We can work it off, serve it off, give it off, pray it off, play it off, etc. but we all come to the realization that no amount of anything we attempt in these situations can actually relieve us from these debts. We. Can. Do. Nothing. Both guilt and shame continue to creep in to the cracked windows of our lives, utilizing the shadows on our bedroom floors to make it underneath our beds, sight unseen. As we toss and turn throughout the night, Satan begins to wage a personal war utilizing both guilt and shame in ways that would make our original SEAL team members proud. Silent. Calculating. Deadly. The monster under our bed is Satan, and he sends out his strike force platoons of guilt and shame with little guidance other than to kill, rob, and destroy.
To those that do not confess to both God and man, these platoons leave behind in their wake decimated villages. Families are destroyed. Marriages torn apart. Businesses declaring bankruptcy. Daughters without mommies and sons without fathers. Siblings declaring war on one another for the rest of their lives on earth. Complete and utter chaos.
To those that learn and create habit forming lives which encourage this practice of confession that John and James describe, life feels more full. Life is never easy. Were you looking for easy? I’m sorry, easy is found through the widest parts of our fortress gates – where one can literally stumble through with little effort, drunk and high on whatever life has brought them, living with little remorse and even less a conscience. But make no mistake – life is more full when choosing to live in accordance to God’s teachings. Sin. Repent. Confess to God AND man. CONFESS TO THE ONE YOU SINNED AGAINST.
Brothers – you do not have to live with the feeling of a debt not paid any longer. Today – make the choice to be debt free. Claim the promises God has for your lives. Confess your sins. The prince of darkness that the world has been serving for centuries only wants to cause you pain. He wants to make the journey unbearable. He wants to slow you down. He wants to hold you up. He wants to keep you from doing what he knows God has predestined for you. The King we serve, is faithful and just to forgive us. He wants to lift our burdens. Run to Him. King of Kings. Lord of Lords. You, by the blood of the Lamb, have been set free. Embrace and accept and stop walking in guilt and shame today. Let today mark the first day of the rest of your life!
Love you, fearless Trench Brother!
Trench Brothers 