Confession

James 5:16 “Confess your sins to one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power in its working.”

Confession is scary. But when we realize how wretched we really are – there is no sin that we have to fear. I am worse, in my heart, than my worst outward sin. The more I speak and understand that truth, the less I am ashamed. When I see the bar of perfection and realize there is no way I could ever reach it, I’m relieved. Not because I have a license to sin, but because I have a freedom from the bondage of it. It doesn’t make sense – its foolishness (1 Cor 1:18). But because I KNOW that Jesus did it, that He achieved that perfection and there is no way I could – there’s freedom in that. So when I don’t reach the bar, I look up and am reminded that HE did. And that’s what God sees. He sees me through Christ’s covering, through HIS perfection. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses (2 Cor 12:9), so that people can see Christ’s strength, not mine; Christ’s covering, not my works; God’s grace and forgiveness, not my meager attempts at righteousness.

When I remember that all my meager attemps are filthy rags and Jesus loved me enough to provide a covering for my nakedness, I fall all the more in love with Him. A desire grows in me to respond in love and obedience. Eph 5:1-2 says "therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

So confession is a beautiful tool that reminds us of the gospel. Don’t fear it! Embrace your need for Jesus. Not just once, as a profession of faith, but every day as a confession of the Gospel – that HIS grace is sufficient and that HIS power is made perfect in our weakness, in our sin and in our confession of it. So that our “righteousness” is not seen, but it's Christ covering that gets the glory.