If We Confess Our Sin…

When I was a young Christian, I was taught you were supposed to confess your sin…that it was necessary to confess every sin in order for it to be forgiven. I understood that if I didn’t take the time to ask God for forgiveness for each sin I committed, that sin wouldn’t be forgiven until it was confessed.

It was incredibly discouraging because I came to realize that there is no way to actually do that.

Considering what sin is and how ubiquitous it is in my life, I wouldn’t get anything done all day except confessing sin! So, I quickly gave that idea up and just began hoping that somehow, it wasn’t true.

However, it affected my relationship with God. I believed deep in my heart that God didn’t want to hear from me because I had so much sin in my life I had failed to confess.

I didn’t shed that belief until I was in my thirties. It was then that I came to realize that it just didn’t make sense.

If you had to confess sin for it to be forgiven, that would mean that a Christian who died instantly in a car crash while they were driving one mile and hour over the speed limit would go to hell (assuming they had been diligent all their life and confessed all their sin up until that time).

After all, the Bible teaches us to obey the laws of the land and if they died instantly, they wouldn’t have time to confess that they had been speeding.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, [obey the laws of the land] for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. Rom 13:1-2 NIV

Plus, what about the stuff that one doesn’t realize as sin? I know that as I mature in Christ, things that I once did without any thought, I know as sin today.

Plus, what about the stuff I know I’m supposed to do, but don’t?

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:17 (KJV)

I finally realized that God forgave my sin over 2000 years ago when Christ died for me on the cross. Technically, all the sin I ever did or will do is future-tense sin and it is already forgiven. My “confessing” wasn’t doing anything to help God forgive me more than He’s already forgiven me.

I’m so thankful for that realization. It doesn’t give me license to sin, it gives me freedom to come before God knowing that when He looks as me, He sees my righteous and holy spirit. He sees what Jesus did, not what I did. Praise God Forevermore!