It used to be that “confession” was felt to be a little embarrassing, a baring of the darker side of our nature. Now our view has changed. Today it is thought to be “something good for you,” perhaps a boost for your self-esteem or a form of self-improvement.
A student in a western college said, “It is no wonder that parents and priests press confession. A weight just seems to slip from your shoulders.”
Some churches have urged their members to write their sins on paper, and then run the paper through a shredder. A real boost for one’s self-esteem?
But can you offer God, the Maker of earth and heaven, a bag of shredded paper in place of heartfelt repentance? Could you even think of facing God with such an offering?
God’s view of confession is very different from ours. It is not a confession of how greatly we have failed, how far short we have come. It is a thankful confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is the true and only Saviour. To confess Him so and to believe in your heart that “God raised Him from the dead” — what a joyful confession that is!
One man, Alvah Reis, made a real “production” of his confession. After a lifetime of committing every possible sin, he came at last to trial. Having prepared a long list of crimes he had committed, he stood before the court and “confessed” for five and a half hours. It was a tremendous “confession,” and people were much impressed.
Was God? No. He knew it all before, and it is unlikely He had any pleasure in the recital. It is not the long and eloquent confession (and certainly not the flippant little pile of shredded paper!) but the simple admission of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, in Romans 10:9-10,9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9‑10) makes it all so clear: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man [believes] unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”