what does it mean to confess?...

what do you do with your guilt? you have options:

you can repress it. that doesn't work, pushing it down inside. when i swallow my guilt, my stomach keeps score. or my back, or my migraine headaches, or something. repress it -- that doesn't work.

you can express it -- how? by doing more of the same? "look what a lousy guy i am!" and go out and do more of it! "i'm an immoral person, watch how immoral i can be."

or you confess it. give it to GOD. "GOD, you're right. it was wrong. i'm sorry."

what does it mean to confess?

you don't beg GOD. "please, please, please forgive my sin." you don't have to beg GOD. GOD wants to forgive you more than you want to be forgiven. HE's waiting to forgive you. HE wants to wipe the slate clean.

you don't bargain with GOD. "GOD, if you'll forgive me this time, i will never do it again" – want to bet? if that's your area of weakness you'll be back there in a matter of days. confession does not make you perfect, it just takes care of the past. "GOD, if you'll just forgive me i'll tithe twenty percent of my income!" you don't bargain with GOD.

you don't blame other people. "GOD, the reason i sinned was because it's really their fault. my mother held my face under the bathtub water when i was a little kid. since then i've had repressed emotions. that's why i stabbed the guy in the back. i'm a product of my environment. sociologically culturized to sin." you don't blame, you don't beg, you don't bargain.

you just believe. believe and receive. the bible says 1 john 1.9 (niv), if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

that's the soap bar verse of the bible. purify. cleanse. totally cleansing.

that's what GOD says to you.

just a thought from the front porch...