J. Heinrich Arnold Excerpted from Freedom from Sinful Thoughts.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:22-24 that as long as we try to serve two masters, we live in darkness. How, then, can we find the singleness of heart that brings us into his light? First, we must see that our inner eye is pure, and not lowered by the shame of unconfessed sin. As long as we remain burdened by hidden guilt, we will never find full freedom or joy: the eye will stay sick, and so the whole body will remain in darkness.

Confession – the act of unburdening our sins to someone else in order to be freed of their weight – is simple enough to define, but never easy to practice. As psychiatrist Charles Baudouin writes, “When we discover that we have created our own misery, this recognition contains something so humbling for us that we are reluctant to acknowledge it.” He goes on, “Yet precisely because we have created our misery, it is essential for us to be absolutely truthful about our failings in order to find healing.”

Despite the unmistakable advice we find in the Letter of James – “Confess your sins to one another” – many Christians today question the need for confession. Some dismiss it as too “Catholic” an idea; others emphasize the importance of a private personal relationship with God and argue that it is sufficient to bring our sins to him. But that is a poor argument: God already knows our sins (Heb. 4:13). Unless we move beyond merely recognizing our sins and acknowledge them to another person, we will not be relieved of their weight.

When our burdens are comprised of specific conscious sins, as is usually the case, these must be confessed without fail. Here the “absolute truthfulness” Baudouin advises is vital, for without it a truly clean conscience remains an impossibility. Sometimes, however, we may feel attacked by evil in a more general way, and be fearful that we might have given in to it or responded inadequately. If such anxiety persists, that too should be confessed. This does not mean digging into the subconscious for every little thing. Where God tells us through our conscience that something is wrong, we should admit it so that it can be forgiven. But the goal of confession should always be liberation, not increased self-concern. We want to find Jesus, not ourselves.

Faith and a good conscience are completely interwoven. If we do not heed the voice of our conscience, our faith will suffer shipwreck. And without faith, we lose the possibility of finding a pure conscience in the first place. That is why the Apostle says that the consciences of those who do not believe are not clean. It is bound to be like this, because without faith the conscience has nothing to hold on to.

Beyond this, it is clear that when we confess a sin to someone we trust and love, a new bond is created through our admission of guilt. Jesus attaches great weight to this bond, as indicated by his emphasis on community throughout the gospels: in fact, he promises that where two or three are united in his name, there he will be in the midst of them. To me, this unity means community – whether in the form of shared work or food, common prayer, or reading and reflection with a friend or spouse. The important thing is the strength – and safeguard against sin – that comes from fellowship. A solitary heart is one in great danger.

In and of itself, confession is no help. People pay good money to tell psychiatrists their sufferings and sins, and these psychiatrists use all sorts of therapy to help them quiet their distraught consciences. In the end, without remorse for the sins we reveal, confession remains a mere “dumping” of sin from one person to another and can have no redeeming effect.

With remorse – with the desire to truly undo the wrongs we have committed by turning away from them for good – confession becomes a joy. In casting off the veil that has kept our sin hidden, it removes the spell of secrecy. I have seen people change in an instant; people who came to me in such distress that their sin seemed to burden them physically, but who almost skipped away once they had everything off their chests.

Bonhoeffer describes this transformation in a wonderful way and shows us that it is more than an emotional thing, but something with eternal meaning:

In the confession of concrete sins the old man dies a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother. Because this humiliation is so hard, we continually scheme to avoid it. Yet in the deep mental and physical pain of humiliation before a brother we experience the Cross of Jesus as our rescue and salvation. The old man dies, but it is God who has conquered him. Now we share in the resurrection of Christ and eternal life.

Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian