This is a follow-on to ‘Confession…’, the previous post, that i ‘forgot’ to mention.
Why do we ‘confess’ our sins to God? He certainly already knows all our faults and the things we have done we are sorry for, or do that is contrary to His Will – so why should we do it? Why should we honestly look at our acts and thoughts and determine which are ‘sinful’ or contrary to Him and then openly admit them?
Well, as i see it we don’t do it ‘for’ Him, we do it for ourself. To help Him help us.
Before we can sincerely ‘repent’ we have to first admit to ourselves what it is that we believe we are doing that is ‘wrong’/sinful. ( He knows, but it is pointless unless we recognise it also).
Once we have our sin in our conscious awareness then we can begin to change our ways of thinking that cause us to act in such a fashion – True Repentance (Gk: metanoia).
We can also at such time seek His assistance to help us overcome that which determines our (old, sinful) thoughts and move our behaviours into closer alignment with His Will.
Confession of our sin is good for our Spirit and Soul… when we ‘follow up’ with the necessary determination to remove them from our human being and human doing. There is little real value to us of confession if we have no intent of preventing the things we do that are sinful and just go right on being ‘us’, believing we have been ‘forgiven’ and that is all we ‘need’.
It is important that if we ‘remove’ one bad behaviour that we replace it with a ‘positive’ one or we take the chance that more bad ones can take their place.
Our ‘cup’ truly does overflow, if we empty some of the ‘junk’ out there is left some room for us to hold more. There is little point to throwing out the trash only to have it replaced by more of the same.
That is such an ‘earthly’ thing to do. 😉
BLob's Blog 
I agree that just thing thinking about, and analyzing, our “sins” does not help unless we do something to address our mistakes, change our “sinful” behavior.
Time wasted on just feeling bad about what we have done is just that, wasted time.
Having just past my 66th year I am even more aware of how precious whatever time I have left is. I am much more motivated to spend this time on positive thoughts, and actions.
The time I have spent being part of this on-line community we share Love, has helped me to become a less self centered person.
I have learned a great deal from you, and my other Christ Follower friends, and have changed with your help.
I can’t say I am a humble person, but at least I am not the egotistical manic I use to be. 🙂
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Ed – WOW!!
now THAT is a little humbling to hear – and very heart-warming also.
And as far as this ‘part’ of our community is concerned – the feeling is just about mutual 🙂 i know you have helped me get rid of a fair bit of ‘trash’ i was holding onto.
Now That’s one of the things friends are for 🙂
Thank You Friend.
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k, so i know this is off topic. but i couldn’t help but be reminded by a certain quote that my hubster and i kinda made up about people confessing their sins…and i mean…like ALL their sins more to people rather than to God.
“you can invite someone in your house. but you don’t have to show them what’s in your garbage bin.”
meaning, basically share your life with people, but…take your trash to the Lord, not to everyone else.
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J-R – i actually thought that was spot on topic 🙂
i believe i can understand that perspective and for sure my post was especially concerned with the idea of it being a one to one thing with Him and each one of ‘us’
if it truly is ‘more to people than to God’ that we confess then i’m with you and L… i do think though that sometimes – with some sins, confessing them to others as well as for ourself ( to God) can help us ensure we get just a little more ‘real’ with doing something about repenting of them.
It can hold us more accountable than if we keep our confessions ‘secret’.
Sometimes 😉
We don’t hafta go nutz! – right? 😉
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exACTly!
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It’s like that old saying (or it might be a Dr Philism?;): You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.
So I agree with you, God requires us to confess, in order to change us.
I’m quite interested in the Roman Catholic habit of confessing to a Priest. I think there can be definite benefits to that…
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Dr Phil knows a thing or two 😉
i have a (true) story about Catholic priests and confession… 😉
The thing that started me on my ‘path’ in this life comes down to a girl i used to work with in a government office.
I forget exactly how the conversation began but she was talking about her religion (Catholic) and was explaining about the confessional boxes the Sunday congregation would queue up outside to have the priest hear their ‘confession’.
Although the confession is a ‘private’ thing, just between you and the preist supposedly, the people outside waiting their turn realised that if someone was in the box a long time they must have had something REALLY ‘juicy’ to confess and so could have been worth gossiping about and pre-supposing what it was that person had done and what they must be like. 🙄
This then made the confessors in line realise that if they had something that would keep them in there with the priest for a time they would be the victim of similar idle chatter and supposition.
They therefore made very sure that when they were in the confession box they only ever told the priest stuff that would allow them to get out in the shortest amount of time so they looked to be ‘good’ that week for the rest of people in the congregation/queue!
The girl went on to say if i wanted a good read i should read ‘Revelation’ – which i did and the rest, as they say, is history.
Personally, i don’t believe having a human intercessor for our sins is really all that much of a good thing and the symbolism of saying penances as acts of contrition does little to address the necessary change of mind needed of a truly repentant and penitant person.
As i mentioned to Joy Renee’s comment i do think there are some times when it may be better for our soul to confess our sins to others for some greater accountability – but probably not in all cases 😉
If you want to confess to a priest it might be best doing it when there are no other members of the community you have to live with anywhere in sight 😉
Sunday morning after mass is probably not the best time 🙂
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Interesting story… I’m not very good with rituals and traditions so sunday morning mass probably won’t do for me either;) I was thinking how ideal it would be if I happened to have a friend who also happened to be a priest… On second thougts maybe not a friend but more of an acquaintance, somebody who I respected and looked up to but didn’t know very well and also happened to be a priest. Like my pastor. I guess what I am saying is I wouldn’t mind confessing to my pastor. Because I think confessing to someone makes you more aware of what you are doing ‘wrong’ regularly and so you can fix it (like you said up here) but they can also give you guidance or wisdom. Sometimes all I need is someone to help me see things differently… Kind of like someone analysing your trash to help you see your eating habits and what’s causing you to gain weight 🙂
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Rain – Call me crazy ( you won’t be the first!) 😉 but i suspect your pastor would not mind at all if you did confess to him and sought another point of view on such matters?
i do understand though the reason you said ‘acquaintance’ more than a friend, and maybe the pastor might be still ‘too close’ – i don’t know your situation.
i believe we all need someone to help us see things differently – to see how to come at life from a different angle to the way we might ‘usually’ see it – in this way we can be freer to understand the reasons and the need we have for ‘change’ – so that we move closer to Him and further from the ‘me’ we are normally so ‘trapped’ by.
i don’t mean we are to think like yet another fallible human – that simply moves the problem from one place to another and does nothing to ‘help’, but that we learn how to see things from a place other than where we normally ‘reside’, stuck in just one place.
Certainly – that has the potential to help us out of our continuing ‘sin’. if we do it ‘right’.
Sometimes we may be able to use Jesus as our confessor – once we develop sufficient Faith.
if you ever need to share a thought – you have my email 😉
P.S i don’t give good advice on Rugby teams 🙂
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Thanks Love!:)
Erm, I think in the rugby department I’m doing quite well.. if you ever need any advice on rugby teams, I’d be happy to assist… 😉
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HA! 😀
i’m not a huge fan of the Western Force and they are about to lose ten of their players for next season.
Do i stick with them or pick another team – one who can at least win at home, maybe? 😉
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Hmmm…. Now it’s not all about winning you know Love;)
You should follow where your heart is. For the longest time I supported the Stormers because my father supported the Stormers, until I realised I was raised in bulls country and this is where my heart lies… hehe.
How’s that for advice? 😉
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Hey – You’re GOOD! 😉
So i guess i need to learn to love losing more and winning less 🙂
i don’t expect you to follow my learning on this 😉
I’ll be wearing blue on Saturday! – that might just be for Everton or Chelsea in the FA Cup though? 😉
i don’t have a ‘force’ jumper!
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Ah, see! We have discovered where your heart lies- with the FA Cup 🙂
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LOL ! – hey – it’s my ‘rootz’.
Congratulations on the Big Win…
and Chelsea won although i would have been happy to see it go the other way. More money meant a ‘better’ team won.
i think my heart REALLY lies with the Ashes, and the Aussie cricket team – only 6 weeks to go! 😉
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