Exhortation

We confess our sins every week, and we need to. But like anything, it can become a formality, so we need to remind ourselves regularly why we do it.

Confession is exposure. Confession brings hidden sin into the open. We avoid real confession because confession brings shame. We’d rather keep our sins safely under wraps. We think we can manage.

But hiding is deadly, and it is futile. Everything is laid bare before God. “There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known,” Jesus said. You can expose your sins now, yourself, or you can wait for God to expose them, now or at the last day.

Confession is not just for Sunday morning. For Christians, confession is a way of life. Paul writes, Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them (Ephesians 5:11). Start by exposing your own sin.

Have you fudged your hours at work? Are you thinking of ways to take revenge on a co-worker who insulted you? Are you angry at your husband and refusing to be reconciled? Are you surfing the web late at night for pornography? Are you sneaking out of the house to visit a girlfriend?

Sin is a poison that thrives on darkness. Light kills it. For God’s sake, for your own sake, bring it out into the light.