Confession
John 3:19-21, Mark 1:15, Luke, 15:8-10, Romans 2:1-5, James 5:16
Anyone else immediately have Confessions by Usher in their head? No? Just me. Cool. God is serious about repentance. Repentance means to confess and turn away. Yet, when it’s time to confess we freeze up and stay in the shadows. Shame fills us, dread holds us back and fear cripples us so we cannot walk into the light. Those are tactics from an enemy who hates confession. Confession brings freedom. It’s the very hammer that breaks our chains. It is the grace that meets our shame, it is the confidence that we use to draw near to the throne of Jesus (Hebrews 4) and it is God’s strength to bring us out of the shadows. When we confess our sin, when we confess our weakness, when we confess the Gospel, the power of the enemy is no more because we are reminded of the victory of Christ. “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3) this prophecy was made true on the Cross on Friday and resurrection on Sunday. When we live in the darkness we cannot see the bruised head of the enemy. We can only hear the voice that tells us to walk back to the grave that Jesus called us out of.
Confess. Be bold in confession and when you are met with shame by brothers and sisters, rebuke them for they do not live out the love of Christ. Your sin is not a shock to Christ, he was thinking of it when he was hanging from the cross drawing in the last few ragged breaths of life. He knew you would watch that video, say that hate, cheat that friend, lie to that teacher. He knew it and still died for it, so we confess our sin, we step into the light because we remember that we approach the throne of the King who offers us grace and forgiveness. He is the God of kindness, of mercy and of love. Let us not forget that as we rebuke the shame, rebuke the enemy, rebuke the darkness through confession.
Confess to God, then text your whole huddle and confess to them. Make it a habit of your weekly huddle time to confess to one another as James encourages us to do. Be bold in asking each other, “is there any unconfessed sin?” what we may be a people who love one another enough to bring each other into the light.
