I get why most Christians have a sin they are not confessing. It feels too awkward, uncomfortable, and risky. Maybe it’s better to keep certain sins between you and God, right?
Wrong. The reformer Martin Luther knew the unmatched power of being completely honest with fellow believers. He wrote, “As to the current practice of private confession, I am heartily in favor of it … for it is a cure without equal for distressed consciences. For when we have laid bare our conscience to our brother and privately made known to him the evil that lurked within, we receive from our brother’s lips the word of comfort spoken by God himself” (The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, 1520). While there are countless benefits to true confession, Luther put his finger on the most powerful—comfort for your conscience. The devil would love to convince you that your sin, that sin, is too much for grace. But honest confession and the forgiveness that follows exposes the devil for the liar he is. You are forgiven, even for that.
John pointed to this benefit when he wrote, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God is faithful. God will forgive. God will purify us.
That’s what you get when you share the whole story, your real story, with a brother or sister in Christ. You get Jesus. And Jesus is exactly what real sinners need.
