Read 1 John 1:7-9

When I was about 8 years old, my mom spent hours painting their master bedroom set.  We were given one rule: Don’t Touch It!  There were 4 children and someone touched it. When my dad got home, we all stood before him and were asked the question: “Who touched the dresser?”  No one confessed to touching the dresser.  We all blamed each other.  With no one confessing, one of us was obviously lying to my parents (it wasn’t me, by the way). Now the issue is not so much about the dresser and who touched it but about lying to mom and dad.

This is how we cover up sins. We lie about them. We lie to impress others and to make them think that we are right.  But once you tell a lie to others, you begin to lie to yourself.  You justify it in your own mind, then you can always find others to help you justify your actions and words.

Sin takes you in a downward spiral.  In the garden, Adam and Eve disobeyed the one rule God gave them, not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  When they disobeyed God, He came to look for them.  When questioned by God, there was no confession but, instead, blaming and, thus, lying to God.  As a result, every human born after Adam and Eve are born with a sinful nature.

In my example, if the one who touched the dresser would have confessed immediately, instead of playing the “blame game” the rest would not have been affected by the consequences.  But, because we all continued in our “belief” that we were innocent, the punishment continued for us all.

If we confess, we may still suffer consequences, but we may save others from the ripple effect of our sin.

Confession means to agree with a statement of another such as conceding to something before a judge. 

God has given us the law which reveals sin.  When we confess a sin, we are making a statement that agrees with God about the law and sin.  When we confess, we need to be honest about our sin and name it as God does: hatred, envy, deceit, etc. We are acknowledging that our actions or words have broken His holy law and that we have committed a sin against Him.  In Romans 6, we learn that the law can’t change us and it can’t make us do good, but it can reveal to us when we have fallen short (Romans 3:23). 

We see in 1 John 1:9 that forgiveness is conditional upon confession.  God says, “If we confess”.  Based on our confession, we learn that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.  God is faithful and just in forgiveness because He paid such a huge price. 

His Son, Jesus, died for our sins. 

God’s holy law was satisfied in Jesus’ death.  His blood covers our sin and removes the guilt of our sin, putting us in a right standing with God. We are justified.

What do you need to confess today? What are you holding onto? Who else, besides Jesus, do you need to confess your shortcomings to? 

P.S. To this day, I still don’t know who touched the dresser.

Janene Nagel

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ReGeneration is a ministry for people battling the storms of life. From emotional struggles to substance abuse, ReGen is a ministry for those who want to experience healing, recovery, community and accountability in the midst of their storms. Currently, ReGen meets on Tuesday nights (7p) at Grace Church in Wooster. We would LOVE to host you! Text “regen” to 3302649459 if you want more information or want to attend!