Small Group Life Blog

March 27, 2009

Hi [FIRSTNAME],

Question #2 in our weekly Life Transformation Group is:

What’s weighing heavy on your conscience? Or what character issue is God calling you to work on?

Last time, I gave the Bible passages in support of asking and answering this question. This time, I’ll discuss the benefit. Then, I’m going to talk about what it is we confess and to whom we confess.

If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21)

Again, I assume that you know Jesus died and rose for you. I assume that you want things like righteousness, love, and peace. I assume you know you get this as a gift from God through Jesus. Please do not forget this root, basic, solid foundation as you read.

Now, you know that you are to confess your sins. This goes hand in hand with God’s forgiveness.

To which you say, “I confess my sins to God. In fact, I do so every Sunday morning, and more in my prayer life.” And I say, “Good. Excellent. Keep it up. But you’re missing something.” (Ah, I can already hear the cries of “blasphemy.”)

The “something” is the way God works and the way we are. God works incarnationally and sacramentally. He doesn’t just announce out of heaven, “Hey people, Jesus died for you, and your sins are forgiven.” He gives us a Bible with the story of His love. And sends people to tell us of His love. And gives us the waters of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Lord’s Table. You hear God’s love with those ears of yours, you bathe in it, and chew on it with your mouth; that mouth, sitting on your face right now. That is just the way God works.

And that is just the way we are: physical, tangible, earthy beings. And that’s how we receive and experience love.

If you do not have a particular failing or character issue that weighs heavy on you, you may stop reading. But if you have something that just grates at you and eats away at you, taking it to God in prayer is good, but misses something.

There is a two-fold power in verbally confessing your failing or character-struggle to a real, live human being.

First, speaking aloud to another human makes the failing tangibly real. It’s a whole lot easier to confess to God my despising of people, my lust, my addiction to _______, my rotten prayer life, etc. (None of which, by the way, do I struggle with, being perfect in every way; this is for you lesser mortals. Which is to say, less sarcastically, I air my dirty laundry to my LTG buddies, not on the internet.)

Second, speaking aloud to another human has a cleansing, releasing power all of it’s own. Saying it only to God leaves you wiggle room to take it back and hold onto it (yuck!). Saying it to a real, live human has away of giving it up, along with the guilt and the pain.

Third (woohoo, bonus material!), you get to hear from a real, live human being (the way God always works with most assurance), “You are free in Christ by His death and resurrection. You are no longer in your sin.” Wow! That is totally awesome and freeing. No advice. No “that’s ok” (how could sin ever be ok?). Just the freedom of Christ, given to you through your ear into your heart and life.

Yeah, I know, you’re still not going to do this. But at least now you know what a gift it is. And you’ll start praying for God to enable you to do this, and for God to give you someone to do this with. Trust me. It’s one of the most powerful tools in God’s arsenal to transform people from toilets to fine serving dishes (or into fully alive humans, as the case may).

In Christ,
Pastor Steve

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