The Art Of Telling On Yourself

July 2007

The fact of sin is an easily verifiable fact of the Christian system of belief. We only see God with the eye of faith. We experience the risen presence of Christ via the Holy Spirit. However, sin we experience with the five senses.

We can deny sin but we can’t exterminate it from our lives. We can cry over it but we won’t eliminate it. We suffer from it but we can’t overcome it yet. We can fight its force within while we seek a holy and divinely ordained life. We can hope sin goes away, but it’s here to stay. We can wait for its disappearance, but sin is no Houdini. What we can do with sin is confess it and seek forgiveness. If you are serious about confession, you ought to seriously study David’s confessions in the following Psalms.

In Psalm 6, David drenches his bed with tears (6-7). In Psalm 56:8 he laments before God: “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?” It is good to cry before God as we join our sins with the sins of the world that surrounds us. Frankly, each of us is surrounded with enough brokenness to sink a few Titanics. I count a half dozen divorces of couples close to me underway as we speak. Not to mention the other sufferings parading before our eyes constantly. What do you do with sin? Tears, more tears, and more tears.

In Psalm 32 David’s body is wasting away when he decides not to declare his sin (5). In Psalm 38 his bones are diseased because of his sin. In Psalm 51 he begs to be cleansed and made clean again. In Psalm 102 he expresses assurance that God hears the despair in the isolation he feels because of sin. In Psalm 130 he waits (pays hopeful attention to God) to hear from God. In Psalm 143 he admits his dirt (no man living is righteous before thee) and pleads for a reprieve from judgment.

As David is imperfect, so are we. The only reasonable response to sin is confession. Jesus’ way is the way of perfection, ours is of confession, of imperfection. The only one effective remedy for sin Eugene Peterson says is forgiveness of sin. Only God can forgive sin. Nothing else will do. Has anything else worked for you?

So I found this helpful prayer of confession (use it if it’s helpful to you). 

Merciful heart of God, in true repentance, I now open my heart to you. Help me not to hide anything from you as I (we if prayed in community) pray. The truth of my sinfulness is humbling to me, but I take courage that I am confessing in your merciful presence. What I committed in shame I now confess in shame. In your wisdom use the pain of my confession to make me hate the sins I confess. The suspension mark (…) is where you can be specific.

When it comes to doing what is good … I confess to being lazy…

When it comes to being humble in the face of these life situations … I confess to being full of pride.

When it comes to being self-controlled in these areas of my life… I confess to having indulged myself.

When it comes to being true … I confess that I have committed these falsehoods…

When it comes to being honest… I confess my dishonesty…

When it comes to letting every word I speak edify and bring healing in these situations… I confess to using uncharitable words.

When it comes to keeping my thoughts pure… I confess to harboring evil thoughts.

When it comes to being disciplined about my walk with you… I confess to being unfaithful.

When it comes to choosing the right ways of God… I confess that I have been taking the wrong direction.

When it comes to living as your child, I confess the biggest sin of all, the sin of not trusting you with all of my life.

O God whose love can burn all that is shameful and evil in me, apply now the righteousness of Jesus Christ to me. Cover my sin and cleanse the stain of my past misdeeds. Loosen the hold of evil habits on my life and give me strength to be pure-hearted. Lead me in battle O God against my secret sins. Let Christ be formed in my heart through faith.

Sin breaks the relationship of trust God yearns (as Jesus did for Jerusalem’s holiness) to establish with us. Before it is breaking the moral or legal laws, sin is breaking the law of love. The law comes in merely to clarify where love is breaking down (stealing, lying, murder, etc…). Defining sin by ignoring love misses what sin really is. At its core sin is relational.

The solution to sin is confession and confession is possible because we have a loving God who loves to forgive. Even more than we dare ask or think! Walking with the Master is the way of confession and forgiveness (1 John 1: 5-10). It is learning the art of telling on yourself.

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