Confession (really works)

Confess like the Pope!

Scripture:  James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Thoughts: Holy Smokes – we have an American Pope!! And just today did I realize, “I bet that’s where the phrase ‘holy smoke’ comes from!!”

A friend recently sent me a video of an American Protestant pastor explaining the significance of the various parts of the Roman Catholic mass with great admiration…and it was as if he’d never considered that the main worship service of the Catholics would have much value or meaning. Well, it’s been around for a couple thousand years, it traces its roots back to the earliest Christians, and it is meaningful for about a billion people these days, so…yeah…it probably has some meaning to it, folks! Ha!

Most Christian worship services of any denomination or no denomination that are actually effective at drawing us close to God have similarities to them. It’s well known that the Catholics, even the Pope, have rituals of confession in which people tell the truth about what they’ve done wrong. But ALL Christians who get close to God and grow in holiness have some version of the practice of Confession. As the book of James declares in 5:16, you should “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

Action: Tell a friend, and tell a stranger some sin you’ve committed or struggle with – and see what happens. A true friend will pray for you, and a stranger will realize they aren’t the only ones who struggle against sin! And finally, be sure to confess to God – both generally, and specifically.

Prayer: “Father, forgive me my sins, as I forgive those who sin against me.”

Wrestling with Sin like Paul did

Scripture: Romans 7:19-20,

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Thoughts: Throughout history, some Christian groups have declared that once you’ve decided to follow Jesus completely you’ll NEVER EVER SIN, and other Christian groups have declared the extreme opposite of that and have said you’ll sin every day in thought, word and deed and might even be worse morally than a pagan…except you’re forgiven because you’re sorry for it.

But the Bible is paradoxical. It holds those extremes in tension, like Paul’s writings there in Romans 7 – and declares that while we still have “evil right there with us” we can give thanks to God for delivering us from it through Jesus Christ our Lord.

By his power, then, we can live into the challenges of 1 John 3 and 2 peter 1 that show us that we can NOT sin! It IS an option available to us every time we’re tempted. BUT, unfortunately we sometimes let sin win out and we do the evil we don’t want to do…and can the Lord’s Prayer anew and as God to forgive us our trespasses, debts, and sins.  

Action: Tell someone, literally, out loud, one of your recent struggles against sin – maybe a confession of a sin you’ve committed, or something you’re tempted to do. Out loud. Honest. To someone. Notice how you feel just a little stronger against it by getting out of the dark hiddenness and into the light of confession.

Prayer: “Father God -- Help me to NOT sin in this area, by the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit! I believe you can help me. Amen!”