Louise was a church member of mine. She and her husband, Cloyce, were Godly, middle-class folks. She once said to me in dismay, “Why don’t people just do right?.”
Certainly, we all should, but the fact is that lots of us fall from the straight and narrow from time to time. We are all human and we all make choices. Inevitably, some of them are wrong choices. Bad choices are based on selfish desires and needs rather than love for God and neighbor.
Some have a harder time seeing their faults and failures than others. The humble realize their weaknesses, but the proud hide their humanity from themselves. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride comes before disaster, and arrogance before a fall.”
Lying to oneself is one of the unhealthiest things a person can do. It will bring personal disaster. It is a rejection of the Lord’s supervision over your life. It places ego on the throne, and when you put yourself in the place that is supposed to be reserved for God, disaster lurks around the corner.
The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). Wisdom is letting God rule your life instead of being ruled by your own pride.
Ginny was a single divorcee, who divorced her husband after 48 years of marriage when she finally realized that her husband was using her as cover for his practice of homosexuality. She had been in denial for a long time. Needless to say, Ginny had a few personal psychological issues to work through, and a few wounds that needed to heal.
She went to counseling, came to God, and began to work on her spirituality in earnest. One of the very wise things she said to me was, “God cannot heal what you will not reveal.”
Most of us know people who have very obvious symptoms of physical illness but refuse to go to a doctor. Such a lack of acknowledgment of the need for help consistently results in disaster. The same can be said for illnesses and wounds of the soul.
There was once a proud Pharisee who prayed to God in the temple, thanking God that he was better than other people, especially a despised tax collector who was also there. The tax collector was off by himself beating his chest in agony, confessing his sin, and asking God for mercy and forgiveness. Jesus observed that on that day, the tax collector went home right with God, not the self-righteous Pharisee (see Luke 18:9-14).
The Bible tells us, “If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins — simply come clean about them — he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing” (1 John 1:8-9, “The Message”).
When we are honest about our faults, we begin to know ourselves. The confession of those faults expressed with a desire to turn to a better way is the beginning of the healing of our souls.
The Church is not the fellowship of the righteous, but of the weak who receive strength from God’s gift of forgiveness. Our honesty with God about our shortcomings enables the sacrifice of Jesus to be effective for us, putting us in right relationship to God. The Church is an AA group for sinners who want to be saints. It is chicken soup that medicates our spirits and enables God to heal us.
Confession is good for the soul. When we confess our sin, it not only opens the door to a right relationship with God, but also to a right relationship to others. Others know we are not perfect, and being honest about our shortcomings and confessing our offenses against others enables those relationships to have the possibility of being healed.
People are not as merciful as God, but if interpersonal healing is to occur, it must start with confession. Humility allows us to admit our sins to ourselves, to God, and to people with whom we should be in right relationships. Healing will inevitably follow confession, and, by the grace of God, we shall know joy.
Dr. Dan Darby is a retired United Methodist pastor.
