All Things Anne

What does confession have to do with an infected wound? Well I’ll tell you!
Something I’ve learned in the last couple days is, confession is good for the soul. Nobody likes to think about their sin, really, so we kind of push it under the rug and try not to think about it. I know. I’ve done that for many years. James says,

James 5:14-16 “Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

Sin is a wound. The longer you leave it, the more infected it becomes. Sin always causes infection, if undealt with. Infection hurts! People will tell themselves they are fine, they’re happy! But if they really analyzed themselves they’d know it isn’t true.
Confession is the cleaning of the wound. Like cutting infection out or lancing a wound with a sharp knife, it hurts. It hurts your pride, because you have to humble yourself and confess and admit all the dirty secrets of your past. It hurts your selfishness because people may not like you afterwards (or maybe you just think that–true Believers will forgive you and love you still).
But do you know what? Your lack of bringing things to the light could be hurting someone else as well. Maybe they forgot, maybe it’s festering inside of them as well. Maybe it’s causing them to sin as well.
So what do you do? Confess your sin and ask for forgiveness, both from your Heavenly Father, and from the person you have wronged. The wound will finally be able to heal. It’ll leave a scar, the scar of consequence (and no matter what the sin, it leaves the scar of consequence, which thankfully, Jesus takes away! Some sins have earthly consequences as well though), but there can be healing in the Body of Christ. And you will be free from the weight and guilt of that sin!

I know.