Confession or Excuses?

Confession or Excuses?

Confession or ExcusesSometimes you hear someone mention they’ll return to God when they get their act together. That makes me sad because they’ve misunderstood the process so badly. It’s not our job to put our act together on our own. We need Jesus for that. But Jesus is more than happy to help us out. Anytime. Anywhere.

With the words of Oswald Chambers “If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He does not ask you to put it right; He asks you to accept the light, and He will put it right. A child of the light confesses instantly and stands bared before God; a child of darkness says — “Oh, I can explain that away.””

God does not want your excuses. He knows everything what there is to know about your life situation. He wants your confession. God wants to have your heart. Not to crush it but clean it.

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.” (John 3:19-21, MSG)

I hope you don’t try to explain your sins. Or stay in the darkness to hide them. Because of Jesus, we can have our sins forgiven when we confess them to the Lord. Because of Jesus, we can accept the light and let Jesus to clean us inside out.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9, NIV)

Confession of our sins is certainly not considered as fun but essential for our well-being. Because the outcomes of confession are better than anything else in this world: freedom, peace, and joy in abundance.

 

Gracious God,
Forgive our sins and forgive our excuses.
Thank you that we can come to you as we are.
Thank you for cleansing us and restoring us.
Thank you for life and freedom,
peace and joy in you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What does keep you from confession? Have you experienced the outcomes of confession?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you return to God no matter what has happened to you!

Image courtesy of creationswap.com, design by Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty, Small Wonders, and #InspireMeMonday.

8 thoughts on “Confession or Excuses?

  1. God doesn’t want our excuses; he wants our confessions. Beautiful truth, Mari-Anna! There is such a difference between thinking we have to clean up BEFORE we come to God, versus that we come to God so HE can clean us up. Have a blessed week!

  2. For a long time pride kept me from confessing to God. To give voice to my sins was to acknowledge that I wasn’t perfect (which is silly, because I knew I wasn’t perfect). There is something so healing about confessing!

    1. Yes, pride hurts. Thankfully God’s aggressive grace wins hands down. Thanks so much for sharing, Anita. And, yes, there’s something so healing about confessing. That’s why we love it even though we don’t like it when we have to do it. Blessings to you, sis!

  3. I think just stopping and taking the time to realize we are on the wrong path can keep us from confessing. We are so busy and life seems like a whirlwind. We often do things in the spur of the moment without realizing what impact our actions have. I try to take time to review and confess my mistakes each night. We have to take stock of where are at in our walk with Jesus.

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