Agree with God.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I was caught! As a little boy, getting caught doing wrong is worse than getting punched in the gut. I had no problem with my wrong until it was found out, but then I felt sick. I quickly apologized trying to make things better for me. I was then asked the question that would always make my head spin. “Are you sorry because what you did was wrong or are you sorry because you got caught?” Hmmm.
When we consider how to overcome sin, acknowledging the problem is important. Part of acknowledging the sin is agreeing with God about your sin.
When we confess our sin, we are agreeing with God that it is sin and that we are guilty of committing it. We are not guilty of committing a mistake or a slip up. This undermines the seriousness of our sin. Call it what it is. Be specific, name the sins you committed.
It is important to remember that we are to confess our sins, not our guilt. Confessing our guilt means we want to feel better. Confessing our sins means we want to be better. Feeling sorry for ourselves because of the shame, is not being repentant. It is an act of self worship with belief based upon feelings. Self pity drives us to a guilt focused confession with good feelings as the goal. God focused repentance drives us to sin confession with restoration as the goal. Our cleansing, after our confession, is not determined by feelings. It is a fact, believed by faith, not a condition based off of feelings.
Agreeing with God about the sins we just committed ushers in His cleansing power which restores us into fellowship with Him. It is a one time deal for each sin. You don’t have to go back and confess the same sin you already confessed…unless you committed it again.
Confessing the same sin again means you are listening to the devil and you don’t believe God fulfilled His part of the promise. The devil will make you think that the way you feel interprets whether God cleansed you or not. God is faithful to cleanse us every time we confess…thank Him for it and move on in full assurance of faith.
Next time we will continue our thought of overcoming sin as we look at the importance of an Accountability Partner.