Confession

Please read the following Scriptures, and then come back and read the rest of this post. Thanks.

#1: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Genesis 3:1-11

#2: Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:2-9

Here we see God at work in the lives of both Adam and Eve, and their son, Cain. In both of these instances God is looking for confession. In both of these instances, God receives blame, condemnation of others and indifference.

God wants us to confess our sins when we break His laws. He wants us to come to Him and confess that we have done what we have done. There is mercy and grace to be had if we only confess to our God our shortcomings.

But too often we try to hide like Adam and Eve or try to say that it’s not our responsibility like Cain. In both instances, God was looking to see if His creation would choose to come clean, but far too often His creation chooses instead to hide.

Francesca Battastelli has great song out right now called If We’re Honest, and it speaks to this very thing as it relates to confession to one another. I hope you’ll take the time to watch the video and reflect on what needs to “come clean” in your life.

Comment below and share a time when you confessed something and how that confession led to a deeper relationship with God and with the person you confessed to.

And we’ll see you on Sunday!