Confession as a Reminder

Reminders are important. Usually, when we need to remember something, a reminder shows the value and importance of whatever that thing is that we’re trying to remember. We all need reminders to help us remember the value of certain things in our lives because we can be so easily caught in the drift of life and like a leaf in the wind or something out in sea we can get pushed and pulled in all sorts of directions. And that’s why we have an exhortation before a time of confession in our service every Sunday. As a reminder. And that is why we confess our sins. As a reminder. A reminder that no one walks in here worthy. No one comes in here having perfectly obeyed God. It’s a reminder. A reminder that we were once in darkness… and that out of darkness… light came forth and shone into our hearts. We confess our sins as a reminder of the greatest news ever, that even though we do not even come close to measuring up to God’s standards, Jesus perfectly represented and fulfilled God’s standards.

We confess our sins as a reminder that though we were once dirty, he has made us clean. A reminder that we were once lost but now we are found, That we were once in grave danger but now we’ve been rescued, that we were once blind but now we see. We see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6).

We confess our sins as a reminder that we acknowledge God’s perspective about sin over what we or others think about it. A reminder that to confess our sin to God is to walk in the light, and that to walk in the light means to walk with Jesus. And so brothers and sisters, let us confess our sins, so that as it says in Romans that we won’t be conformed to the patterns of this world but that we would be transformed by renewing our mind to God and his word. And let us, as it says in Hebrews, lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.

Confession is a way to come to terms with our self and realize that the world does not revolve around us. That we are not dependent on ourselves but on God and what he has done. We confess as a reminder of the glorious news of the Gospel, that the forgiveness of our sins is not because of who we are or what we have or haven’t done but forgiveness is found by grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus.

Let us pray and confess.

Father God, we come to you knowing you are a good Father, and that as your children we confess our need for you and how prone we are to forget you. We confess that we have been pushed and pulled in so many directions that we have forgotten to even confess our weaknesses and sins to you throughout the week.