Confession is a big part of the Christian life. If you pray the magical prayer and confess your sins, you are forgiven. But a lot of the churches I have been to taught me that we have to confess daily to keep a strong relationship with God. Basically, confess after every single sin you commit, and they make it sound like we will lose our salvation if you don’t, which isn’t the case.
Confession has nothing to do with your security in your relationship with Christ whatsoever. But once you start seeking the face and the mysteries of Christ, then confession will come second nature. But a lot of people get it twisted when Satan whispers into their ears saying, “Confess, or you aren’t a child of God.” He is a queer like that, and don’t fall into the trap that he lays out. Once a child, always a child. But a true confession from a true follower of God’s heart is not necessarily telling God what he did wrong, but telling the sin that it is no longer apart of him. That has helped me out a lot.
But what about forgiveness? A lot of the church goers teach that we should ask for forgiveness daily, but what does that benefit? I’m not rebuking their teaching, but think about this. Constantly asking for forgiveness over and over is like asking Christ to get back on the cross. He took away the sin of the world so that we could walk in his forgiveness and finished work. I have had many a conversation about the good ole’ one time forgiveness deal, and one even gave me a hypothetical situation to paint a picture.
Two men are in a church. One says that he believes in the one time forgiveness, and the other says that he does not. The forgiven man asks why, and the “unforgiven man” replies “because I have leaks.”
When we are filled with the holy spirit, from top to bottom, but if we have leaks, it sounds to me that the holy spirit would leak right out of him, leaving nothing to fill him up. Once we realize we are forgiven, and once the “old man” dies, we can live an absolutely, positively FREE life. Yes, you will face temptation, but once you live freely, you can understand that the temptation that you’re seeing is actually just a hologram of what you were and not who you are now, a beautiful child of God and a heir to the kingdom. Yes, it is very important to confess, but you aren’t going to lose your relationship with Christ over not confessing it.
Here is an example: for Christmas, I get a Wii with all the Mario games. It’s amazing! But later that day, I ask my dad if he can buy me a Wii. Dad looks at me with a confused look and says, “Huh? You already have one. Play it!” Kind of a stupid example, but instead of asking for something that has already been given to us, thank him for it and use it to your advantage of the advancement of God’s kingdom.
Christ is a groom and we (the church and individual people) are the bride. Once we enter that holy matrimony, we’re together forever. Once we slip up, it’s not a matter of asking for forgiveness, but thanking him for the forgiveness that he has provided, and tell that stumbling block that it is no longer apart of you, and live in perfect harmony with your spouse. I’ve been married to Jesus now for about six months now, and I’ve learned, like in any other relationship, instead of obeying commands of God as a slave, we do it because we love him and want to make him happy. If we do that, he will bless you out the wazzoo. He just wants you to rest in him and be with him like a husband and a wife want to be with each other.
So if we are forgiven, there is no real point to sin. Yes, we will stumble and fall, but when we do we can still cling to the cross spotless as he saw you before. In Hebrews 10:17 it says that God will remember your sin no more. Then it says in 18 that “Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. So walk in his freedom and forgiveness! He wants you to! Christ took away the sin, and God forgave you of your sin once you received his awesome gift, so walk in perfect harmony with Christ, doing what he says out of love and walking with him boldly, without flaw, and loving others that desperately need it but don’t get it from this world.
Yeah so forgiveness is pretty cool.
