A Fundamental Practice as a Christian: Confessing Our Sins

How many times do we confess our sins a week? I have to admit myself, that as a Christian, I never forget to participate in the positive aspects: singing, praying, reading the Word, and enjoying the Lord; but many times, reject some of the most fundamental matters of a Christian.

We see the first case of man’s sin in Genesis 3. Here we have the woman who God created, wandering alone by herself around the garden without her husband.

As the wife of the man, the woman should have been dependent on the Head, not doing anything by her own will or her own desire. We see here, the first case of sin (like all the cases of sin) occurs from our independence from our source – the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our independence then leads to disobedience, as seen by the woman “took of its fruit and ate.” God had said in Genesis 2:17 “for in the day that you eat of it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you shall surely die.”

It is very obvious as shown in this passage and through our own experiences, the result of sin is nothing less than death. It seems like, after we have committed even the smallest of sins, we are full of death.

There is a oriental saying that even the smallest leaf can block the moon from one’s eyes. Likewise, even a little ounce of sin can prohibit us from reaching the tree of life – just as the man and the woman were cut off from the tree of life shortly after their disobedience.

In a sense, Genesis 3 is a negative chapter in that the first case of sin is presented. On the other hand, Genesis 3 is a wonderful chapter in that it also presents the first case of sin being forgiven.

Praise the Lord that our sins can be forgiven! The forgiveness of sin here was not complete because the Lord, the real sacrifice (Heb. 9:14), has not been offered yet.

But what is meaningful here is the picture of what happens after our sins are forgiven. After man’s redemption, Adam named his wife, Eve. It is strange how Adam had not named his wife yet. Still, what we see here is a picture: after our sins are forgiven, we are led to life!

We see then that confession of sins and life go hand in hand. In our fallen condition, neither of them can stand by themselves. We can confess our sins all we want, however, that does not fulfill God’s original intention – it only brings us back to our original condition.

We can try to gain life all we want, but our fallen nature is repelled by God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, blocking our entry to the tree of life. How crucial it is to confess our sins, but how much more crucial it is to contact the Lord as the tree of life right after we confess our sins!

To illustrate confessing our sins and contacting the Lord we can use the game of basketball. It’s a proven fact that our shot percentage increases as we get closer to the basket.

Confessing our sins is like dribbling the ball, and shooting the ball is like contacting the Lord. Dribbling places us in a better position to shoot, just as confessing our sins places us in the right position to enjoy the Lord.

Now let’s take a more experiential approach now: How do we do it? Psalms 32:5 says: “I acknowledged my sin to You,/ And I did not cover my iniquity./ I said, I will confess my transgressions to Jehovah./ Then You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”

Confession of our sins is not a complicated process. Rather, it is a simple matter of coming to the Lord and acknowledging our sins. For example, “Lord, I admit of doing this and that.”

Once we acknowledge our sins, it says that Jehovah forgives our iniquities.

Many times we confess our sins; yet, we still feel that our sins are not forgiven. In times like these – when we still have the feeling of sins and uncleanliness – are we forgiven or not?

We must remember, that once Satan was injected into our being, not only did our bodies become flesh, but our soul became the self, corrupting all our organs – mind, emotion, and will.

We cannot trust our feelings! What we can stand on is the word of God! 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Hallelujah, He is faithful! He will do it. When we are in doubt, it’s as if we are belittling the Lord’s blood shed on the cross. No sin is too great to be forgiven by the blood of the Lamb.

Do we believe in our sins or do we believe in the Lord’s blood shed for us? We believe and stand on the Lord’s blood and on His Word! Praise the Lord for the matter of confessing our sins. [guest post: bro. Joseph]