He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2

See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves… 2 Corinthians 7:11

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 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. Isaiah 59:1-2

Alone at 3 AM

Good morning Lord, it’s 3 AM
And you’ve come to make me sane.
I was too full of pride to call on you,
Still, you showed up just the same. 

I know you’re here to deal with me
About the pain, I’ve buried in my mind.
I promised you I would look at it
Then I begged the enemy to make me blind.

You think that I need rescuing
From my well designed insanity,
That convinces me I cannot be hurt
By those things I cannot see.

I understand I must face it sometime, Lord,
When I do, I hope you’ll be by my side.
It’s humbling that you want to stay with me
To face together what we find. 

But Lord, I’m just not ready,
To see the wreckage and despair.
I don’t want to know what’s broken
Or what can and cannot be repaired.

I hate to think I disappoint you, Lord
That was never part of my plan.
Still, If you would grant me one more grace,
Please don’t leave me alone at 3 AM 
Linda Troxell ©  08/29/21

Why we Must we Keep Confessing after Salvation?

I recently saw a thread on social media debating if and why we need to continue confessing and repenting of our sins if Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of the world, past, present, and future.

I want to be clear that this, for me, is a question wholly grounded in curiosity about the theology of the question. I consider prayer and confession a privilege given to us by a God who is nothing but love. 

That said, I cannot believe I have never asked this question before. I have had all the elements of the question in my mind for years. Yet, I have never put them together in a way that formed this question. But once I did, I had to go on a journey to find the answer.

The meaning of the finished work of the cross is the redemption of all sin, past, present, and future. God’s wrath against sin was satisfied by the death of Jesus and His reconciliation plan completed. As members of the body of Christ, we are forever saved from eternal death. Yet, still, we are required to repent and confess all sin. Why?

You will not be surprised that the answer to this question encompasses several different opinions out there in the limitless world of the internet. I would love to present them all in this writing but, it is far too much material. So, because I don’t know if there is just one correct answer to the question, I will tell you about the one that makes the most sense to my finite mind.

In researching this question, I learned there are two kinds of forgiveness. Paul described one in Ephesians when he said, “In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Ephesians 1:7 Paul is speaking of judicial, or positional, forgiveness. This forgiveness allowed for our eternal salvation.

When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for our sins allowing for our forgiveness. In turn, this allowed us to be justified and made righteous before God. Righteousness then allowed us to accept the gift of salvation. Because Jesus took the penalty for sin Himself, we escaped the fires of hell. That, then, is judicial forgiveness.

Although judicial forgiveness saves us from eternity in hell, it does not apply to the consequences of sin while we are still on earth. Those consequences happen in real-time and affect our earthly relationship with our heavenly Father. That requires the second kind of forgiveness, familial forgiveness.

To explain it, I will borrow the metaphor that we so often use to understand the many facets of our relationship with God; that of the family. 

To understand post-salvation sin imagine the beloved adult child of an important man, a king or president, someone with great power. Now imagine that this child does something that disappoints their father. The behavior is something that falls short of the father’s expectations and the family values or rules.

What the child has done will not sever the family ties, they will always remain a family, but the relationship is damaged.

However, if the child takes responsibility for their behavior, apologizes for disappointing their father, repairs any damage, and promises it will never happen again, the father will forgive his child. That is called familial forgiveness. This kind of forgiveness demonstrates love, repairs the relationship, and keeps communication open. 

If the child does not apologize, there is tension in the relationship. The child feels the weight of the guilt, and the father’s trust is diminished. This strains the relationship and makes it less satisfying. If this becomes a pattern the father may decide that his child needs to be disciplined. 

In this metaphor for familial sin, God, of course, is the Father and we are his child. We need to keep confessing and repenting of our sins asking God for familial forgiveness because we want to keep our relationship with Him open and without obstruction. 

Unconfessed sin can cause a breach in our fellowship with God. And while God would not forsake us, the relationship would not be ideal for either of us. And like the father in the metaphor, if our unconfessed sin becomes a pattern, God may decide we need to be disciplined.  Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 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. Isaiah 59:1-2

In writing this blog post, I found myself thinking of just how gracious and forgiving God is. I remembered that whenever I go to Him and ask Him to forgive me, I always feel forgiven and loved.  

That led me to think about the times I didn’t take my sin to Him. And it made me wonder why. I always feel lighter and more at peace after spending time with God, be it a confession or just quiet time. Yet, sometimes after sinning, I don’t go to Him.

Maybe you have had a similar experience. You know you have something to confess, but you put it off, thinking maybe later. I kept wondering what stops me? I came to the conclusion that for me, and perhaps for you too, the difference is in the sin itself.

Some people believe that all sins are equal. But we know that can’t be true. Aside from God’s judgment, they aren’t equal in how we, ourselves, judge them. We don’t feel the same way about a lie as we do about murder.

How we feel about a sin makes a difference in how it affects us. All sin brings with it some degree of guilt, but some sin brings us shame which is far worse than guilt.  

This might be confusing if you are among those who believe that guilt and shame are the same things, But they aren’t the same things. Nor is shame simply a higher degree of guilt. Shame is far more damaging than simple guilt, and much more difficult to resolve. Let me tell you how.

If we have done something that violates our value system, which for Christians is to sin, guilt will nag us reminding us we’ve done something wrong until we confess and make things right with God and whomever we’ve wronged. 

But shame doesn’t nag, it screams at us berating us about what we’ve done as well as who we are until we finally have to run away.

Guilt persuades us to confess, shame persuades us to hide. Guilt can lead to forgiveness, shame leads only to more shame.

Guilt is easily resolved because it pushes us to admit our wrongs and make them right. We may feel some fear about facing up to what we have done wrong, but usually, we feel more wounded pride than fear.

By owning up to our bad behavior, making appropriate amends, and fixing what we’ve broken, all is forgiven and guilt is banished. That is not true for shame.

So much more than nagging, shame is experienced as a screaming shrew accusing us of not only doing something wrong but of BEING something wrong. It convinces us we have no right to live among decent people. 

It makes us fear that if anyone finds out what we have done we will be kicked out of our tribe, abandoned by all. Shame makes us feel we must hide.

Because we believe we cannot confess our shameful behavior, we begin to also believe that there is no solution to our situation that will allow for our survival. With no hope of being forgiven, eventually, the shame becomes intolerable.

When we can no longer hide from the shame, we hide the shame from us; we bury it in the deepest darkest places of our being. Hidden in the dark, our fear and shame grow, allowing the enemy to get a foothold in our minds.  

God created us with the ability to feel guilt for the same reason we feel physical pain, because it serves as a wake-up call that something is wrong. Physical pain warns us of physical danger; likewise, guilt warns us of emotional, mental, or spiritual danger.

Make no mistake, because guilt comes from God it is rooted in love. This allows for repairing relationships, emotional growth, and ultimately resolution. Guilt is what Paul called Godly sorrow in 2 Corinthians. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves… 2 Corinthians 7:11 

Shame, however, comes from the enemy and is rooted in fear. As we are told in 1 John, 4 there is no love in fear for fear has to do with punishment and punishment is not love. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18. 

Shame makes us fear punishment so it keeps us from talking to God, making it a perfect tool for the enemy to use in separating us from God, thereby weakening our bond with Him. When we are cut off from God, the enemy can strengthen his foothold.   

But even if we can manage to keep shame out of our thoughts it is still doing the work of the enemy in its dark hiding place and eventually, it overwhelms us. 

It’s important that we know how to distinguish between guilt that is a warning us and shame that will separate us from God; but how?

Well, it’s pretty straightforward. If we are willing to take our feelings to God knowing He can and will resolve them, it’s probably simple guilt. If, however, we won’t risk telling God for fear He will not forgive us, we are probably facing shame.

We cannot allow shame to sever our relationships with God. But shame is a hider by nature and it can be all but impossible to identify in ourselves. 

That means that whenever we feel unable to go to God we must be willing to trust other Christians, our brothers and sisters in Christ for help. We must talk to someone in good spiritual shape who can convince us that there isn’t anything we can’t bring to God.

We, as Christians, must always know what to do for a brother or sister in Christ who is struggling. Even if that only means we lead them to someone more equipped to help them, and then support them however that need us to.

Of course, this was easier 2000 years ago when Christians lived and worked in small communities. Everyone knew what everyone else was doing. That made it easy for multiple people to know when someone needed help. And there were multiple people to offer that help 

It was also easier for them to help each other because living in such small communities, they saw each other every day. Our lifestyles, today, do not allow us that convenience.

We know little about what happens with one another from Sunday to Sunday when we meet in church. But God still calls us to take care of one another. He didn’t say when it’s convenient for you, “Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  Galatians 6:2

James said, Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working, James 5:16. I realize James was referring to physical healing. However, it applies to emotional and spiritual healing from shame just as well. 

His point is that if we know what is going on with our brothers and sisters we can support them with prayer and deed. In addition, James wants us to be aware of the power of communal prayers.

Prayer should be our first remedy for any situation. That is part of what is meant by praying without ceasing. No Christian should be worried about whether they can or if they must pray or confess.  If we feel that way on a regular basis we need to reach out for help. Don’t try to live without prayer.

Prayer is a privilege that should not feel like a burden. And in this modern age, with our busy lives, Prayer is the most powerful tool we have to help others and ourselves. Of course, we want to combine prayers with more tangible help for those in need. But sometimes prayer is all we have.

Praying and confessing to God is important throughout our entire life. And we can’t forget the importance of of communal prayer. Whether it’s two voices or 50, with every new voice the power of the prayer is multiplied.

Prayer is a means of protection and a means of comfort however, we must keep in mind the true purpose of Prayer. Prayer is first, and most importantly, a means to worship and praise our most holy and loving God. 

We are privileged to have the freedom to engage in prayer any time and any place. That is not the case for millions of Christians all over the world in places where being a Christian is illegal and its penalty is death. Next time we feel prayer is a burden or a duty let’s begin with thanking God for our free access to Him.

Confessing too is a privilege. We have the privilege of taking our sin, no matter how abhorrent to the only one who can repair the damage of that sin, the sovereign God who created the universe, the God who is so holy His countenance cannot be looked upon.

And when we exercise our privilege to confess our sins and we ask Him to forgive us those sins, because of who He is, without regard for who we are or the size of our sin, He forgive us.

We have the privilege of being forgiven and washed free of the burden of our sin at the end of our confession. Next time we feel our prayer and confession is a burden rather than a privilege, let’s thank Him for His forgiveness.

I know that there are thousands of Christians whose only question is, will we still go to heaven if we don’t keep praying and confessing. I hope you are not one of them. Regardless, the answer is yes.

When we confessed that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and we believed it in heart, our salvation was guaranteed. Not because of who we are, but because of who He is. Next time we feel burdened to pray let’s thank Him for that. That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9-10

However, if we don’t pray and if we don’t confess, it will make our relationships with God here on earth less than it’s meant to be. And truthfully we don’t know how it affects our heavenly life if it affects it at all. Are you willing to take that gamble? 

I cannot wrap my head around the idea that anyone would want to pass up one of Christianity’s greatest privileges, the grace to be able to talk to our God, personally as often as we like, where ever we like.

It makes me wonder if a Christian who finds prayer to be a burden and not a refuge, was ever really saved at all. I mean no condemnation or insult by that. In fact my heart aches for anyone who doesn’t have the privilege of prayer to sustain them in this fallen world.

Let’s Pray:

Lord, you are such comfort to all of us when we stop long enough to spend time with you. Your peace and your constant love soothe all of our fears and anxieties. But sometimes Lord, even when we know you would comfort us we don’t come to you and ask. Of course, you know Lord, that is because of shame. Shame is so insidious, just like the enemy who created it to keep us from you Lord. He knew we would try to bury the shame because he made it almost impossible to look at, let alone live with. Almost, BUT FOR GOD! He cannot keep us locked up in shame if we bring that shame to you. However, shame iis very good at making us feel like you will forsake us if we “let you know” about it. But that makes no sense. First, because you already know everything about us. And because we only need to look at your character to know that you are not a forsaking God you are a forgiving God. But shame makes us feel unworthy even to read your word so we can’t be reminded that love is all you are and you desire to forgive not to punish. Lord, please help us block the enemy so he can’t fool us with shame. Remind us Lord that we can turn to you anytime and that there is no sin you won’t forgive if we are truly repentant. And Lord, help us to be transparent with our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can better know one another and protect one another when we are struggling. James tells us to confess our sins to each other and pray for one another and we could do that so much better if our fellow Christians knew more about us and we about them. Please, Lord, help us to fight our tendency to compare ourselves to one another in competition and begin to compare only to know who needs our prayer the most. Help us to break the enemy’s strongholds in our minds and our hearts. We pray this in the holy name of Christ Jesus, Amen

Points for Pondering or for Prayer

Or

Perhaps for Putting Pen to Paper

Were you aware, before reading this that there is a difference between guilt and shame? If you were, how did you learn? Explain in a few sentences.

Have you ever experienced shame that you were afraid to take to God?

If you have, write a few sentences about what the shame was about and whether or not you’ve resolved it. If you have resolved it how did you? And if you haven’t resolved it, did this reading help you to make a plan to resolve it?

Have you ever had a difficult time going to God with a particular behavior or thought? 

If you have what was it?

Do you know why it was so difficult? Might it have been shame that kept you from going to God? Write a bit about that time and others if there have been others. 

Have you ever had a time when you were unable to go to God for some time and unconfessed sin built up? If you have, write about what that felt like and if you have resolved it how you resolved it. 

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