Confess

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16

IT’S NOT HARD to admit to our kids that we are sinners in a general sense or to say that we need God’s forgiveness. It’s not even terribly hard to confess sins we committed long ago. What’s hard is practicing the regular confession of present sins in the presence of our children. What’s hard is being vulnerable enough in front of them to confess as sin the gossip they overheard, the greed that shaped our recent business deal, the compromise that kept us from turning the channel, or the apathy that allows us to complain about and criticize our neighbors while never sharing the gospel with them.

We prefer to be the voice of authority and virtue to our kids, not the lead confessor or repenter. But how can we expect our kids to confess their sins and pray for each other as a means to experience healing from sin if we never confess our sins? How can we be surprised when our kids lie about or hide their sins when we live in self-denial about our own sins or seek to keep them under wraps?

As we model for our children a regular pattern of confession and glad repentance, we show them how a follower of Jesus handles sin in his own life. To hear Dad regularly confessing sin to Mom and his kids, but especially confessing sin to God; to listen as he prays for forgiveness and asks for the prayers of his family to defeat a particular sin; and then to watch him experience the joy of restored fellowship with God and a purified conscience —surely this is what convinces our kids that they don’t have to be perfect and can overcome sin in community.

Lord, I confess that I’ve been slow to confess. When I’m courageous enough to name and admit my sin, I like for it to be between you and me. Frankly, I don’t like either the embarrassment or the accountability that comes with confessing my sins to the people who will know if there is any real change in my life. But there is something I love more than my privacy —someone I love too much to disobey your Word in this way. Lord, as I confess my sin in the presence of ________, would you please use it to encourage ________ that sin can be brought out into the light and that there is grace and mercy available from me and from you?