One of the hardest concepts in the Bible to apply is the concept of confession. It’s not necessarily hard to understand but extremely hard to apply, especially if the confession you need to make is extremely difficult.
But, we are called to confess. And, unfortunately, many people think that we are only taught to confess our sins to God, He’ll forgive us, and that’s it. Yes, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and will purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9),” but we need to go a step further.
James 5:16 says,
“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
There is so much power in this little verse. First of all, we do understand from the Bible that we need to first of all confess to God and ultimately He is the one who holds us accountable, but this verse clearly says that we must confess our sins to each other as well. Why? “So that you may be healed.”
Have you carried the burden of a sin against someone for so long that you don’t know what to do with it? Perhaps you’ve confessed it to God, but the person you hurt doesn’t know. Healing will only come when the truth comes fully. The truth really and truly does set us free, as hard as it is to deal with. When the truth comes out, the burden is lifted, and healing can begin. It is extremely difficult for the person who has been hurt to forgive, but how can they even think of forgiveness when they don’t know the truth? Check out my post on forgiveness for a different perspective from a young man from Uganda.
The verse also says to “pray for each other.” When a sin is confessed, people know how to pray specifically for you to battle that particular sin.
So, today if you are holding on to a sin that has been unconfessed, first of all to God, but just as importantly to someone you’ve hurt, confess it. All of it. You will never experience true healing until this happens. Trust me. I know about this first hand and deeply regret the wounds I have caused by not letting the truth set me free. But today is a new day, His mercies are new every morning and my life will be focused on applying God’s truth every second of every day.
