The Importance of Confessing Your Sins

I am convinced that the main reason Christians struggle with their relationship with God is because of sin in their lives; specifically Christians have not confessed their sins.

Psalms 66:18, says, If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

These two verses focus on how sin ruins our relationship with God. We start seeing this at the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis with the story of Adam and Eve. Every time you see sin in the Old Testament of New Testament there is always a severance in the relationship with God.

In the story of the Bible, the ultimate solution to our problem of sin is Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection. When Christ did this He made a way for us to be reconciled to God.

Romans 5:10, For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Our separation from God because of our sin is eliminated when we become followers of Christ.

However our relationship with God can change. So are position in Christ does not change when we sin but our relationship with Christ does.

For example:

When I was a young teen I was doing video school, as I was homeschooled. Well my brother and I found out very quickly that we could change to channel and fast-forward the videos to look like they were complete. Towards the end of the school year, my parents discovered this massive err in judgment.

I was still their child, that was my God given position but my relationship with my parents was not the same. In fact it took a while to earn their trust back again and rightfully so.

Often when Christians are feeling a disconnect in their relationship with God, it is because they have sinned and not confessed it. Why, because God does not want to be around sin as he is the antitheses if sin.

This is why confession of sin is so important. So if you want to have a strong relationship with God you must confess your sins on a regular basis.

God promises that he will forgive all of our sins -1 John 1:9

God promises that he will cast our sins as far as east is from west – Psalms 103:12

When I am spending time confessing sin I like to think from top to bottom.

I heard a great definition of sin:

Sin is anything that you think, say or do that breaks God’s law.

So under that definition of sin I start with my top and go to the bottom.

1.     Confess your thoughts. This might include: your attitude, your thoughts, where you have allowed you eyes to go.

2.     Confess your words. Not a day goes by where I do not say something that I should not have said.

3.     Confess your actions. Was there something I did that did not honor God or broke God’s Law?

How have you seen the need of confession in your life?

Have you seen how un-confessed sin can ruin someone?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.