Here’s what’s good about the most important confession you can make

By Dean Collins

When are you going to confess?

That might be a startling question. I really don’t know any of your secrets, so I am not trying to call you out for something you did wrong. I haven’t run a criminal background check on my readership, so you can take a breath and think about my question.

When we hear the word confess we probably have one of a couple thoughts. In the detective shows we watch and the crime mysteries we read we’re trying to figure out who committed the crime. Who betrayed their family? Who stole the property? And of course, we want the truth to come out and for the guilty to be charged.

The other thought is what the Scripture means when it urges us to confess. Confession is a declaration or admission that something is true. If I confess my sinfulness, I am admitting I have failed to live according to God’s standards or design. If I confess that Jesus is God’s Son, I’m admitting what I believe to be the truth about him. When Jesus asked the disciples what people thought of him and his identity, Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” For centuries the church has referred to this as the good confession.

The better confession

It is good and life changing to admit or confess that we are sinners, but it is even better when we confess that we know the truth about Jesus: He is not only the Son of the living God but also the one who died on a cross for our sins. He is the one who therefore offers forgiveness and full—even eternal—life.

Here’s something else we may need to confess or admit to ourselves and to others. We find the model of this confession in Psalm 118:

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, ‘His steadfast love endures forever” (vv. 1, 2, ESV).

I love how Old Testament scholar John Goldingay translated this passage: “Confess Yahweh, because he is good, because his love is permanent.”

The important admission

In other words, admit God is God, admit he is good and good all the time, and admit his love is permanent. It isn’t going anywhere. We can depend on him every day and in every situation, the good, the tough, and even the terrible. The situation may be bad, but the love of God was present before the situation, in the situation, and will be present past the situation. Nothing and no one can change the permanent love of God.

What does confessing this truth do for us? According to this Psalm and consistent with the whole of Scripture:

• It will set us free (v. 5)
• It will take away our fear (v. 6)
• It will establish God as our helper (v. 7)
• It will bring triumph over enemies (v. 7)

And as we continue our confession that God is good and his love is permanent, we discover other gifts from God…

• The Lord is our strength (v. 14)
• The Lord is our song (v. 14)
• The Lord is our salvation (v. 14)
• Our life does not end with physical death but rather springs forth in life (v. 17)
• We benefit from God’s discipline and correction (v. 18)
• We walk through the gates of righteousness (v. 19)
• We live with an attitude of gratitude (v. 19)
• We receive the answers we seek (v. 21)
• We discover the cornerstone of life (v. 22)
• We celebrate every day as a gift from God and live joyfully (v. 24)
• We experience the light of God shining on us (v. 27)

So don’t hold back your confession for another day. Declare with the psalmist of old: “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you” (v. 28).

Give thanks to God today and know he is good and his love endures forever!

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭118:1-9, 13-14, 17, 19-29‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This post originally appeared November 27, 2020.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

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