CONFESSION
14th May 2025
1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Message puts it this way, “If we admit our sins—simply come clean about them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.”
He will make us whiter than snow. We are so privileged to be able to confess our weakness and failure to our Heavenly Father and receive His forgiveness and help. He never condemns, He convicts and encourages us to “come boldly to the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) Sometimes it is possible to receive God’s forgiveness and cleansing, but more difficult to forgive ourselves.
Recently I felt the Holy Spirit convict me in regard to what I had been reading and watching on TV. I enjoy reading and seeing a good thriller, but I became aware that if I was to check my entertainment in terms of “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.” (Philippians 4:8) Some of the stuff I had been both reading and watching failed meet this test and was really wasting time!
So I confessed my sin and asked for the images to be cleansed from my mind, but I felt sad that I had allowed myself to be drawn into unhelpful, time wasting activities. I know God is faithful to His word and He had forgiven me, however, I was not so gracious at forgiving my self. I felt heavy, flat, joyless, until I realised I needed to release myself from the guilt that was not coming from God, but rather from the devil, who was trapping me with condemnation.
So once I realised what was happening, I was quick to copy what Jesus did when satan was tempting Him in Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus answered satan’s accusations and temptations with God’s Word, “It is written”, and I did the same, confessing that I had been forgiven by God and I forgave myself and rebuked out loud all condemnation and shame.
I’m so glad the Holy Spirit will correct and convict us so we can live free of condemnation and any form of guilt and shame. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) A new power is in operation. Let us be quick to receive forgiveness from our Heavenly Father and equally quick to forgive ourselves and move on following Jesus with joy and hope.
by Joyce Sibthorpe
