Today’s passage has one of those parts that I just wish I had found earlier in my life. Verses 8-10 to me, are some of the most important verses in all the Bible.  The Bible is God’s Word, it is God’s truth, it should shape every part of who we are, how we live, what we do, everything about it.  It should and it must.  So, in light that, listen to what we are told today:

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

If we say we have no sin, we are wrong.  The truth is not in us, all of us have sinned.  We all make mistakes, we all fall, we all get it wrong. It’s just part of life.  Like a said a couple of days ago, there is a difference between walking with sin and committing a sin. All of us mess up. It’s human nature.  But when we sin, and if we confess, God will forgive us.

Listen to that. God will forgive us of our sins.  We can be forgiven.  You don’t have to hold onto your sins, your mistakes, your failings, an of this.  You can be forgiven.  You can.  You don’t have to hold on to the sins of your past.  You can know grace, know mercy.  Know joy.  Know love. Know all of it, now.  You can be forgiven, through Jesus.

Now, why confession?  Why do we confess?  That is not for God’s benefit, it’s for ours. When we can confess, we own up to our mistakes.  Yes, I messed up.  Yes, I fell.  yes, I got it wrong. When we confess it like that, we admit it. And then we are forgiven.  Not in generality.  Not in vagueness.  But in particular.  I am not forgiven of my sins in a general sense but in a specific way.  I am not generally forgiven but I am forgiven of THAT.  It is particular.  Confession of sins allows us to name our mistakes and hear forgiveness of that specific mistake.

Confession is not for God.  It is for us.

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