“Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” — James 5:16

Years ago, I was talking with a woman at Waypoint who had grown up Catholic, and we were discussing what she missed most about her church experience. I expected her to say the liturgy. Or the beauty of the Mass. Or maybe the rhythm of the church calendar. Instead, she said, “Confession.” I was surprised. She went on to explain that there was something deeply freeing about walking into that space carrying the weight of your failures, naming them out loud to another person, hearing words of forgiveness, and walking back out without carrying them anymore.

Confessing our shortcoming, regrets, mistakes, pains, and deepest secrets begins a transformative process in our our souls, because healing begins where hiding ends.

Notice James says confession is part of God’s means of healing. The Christian life was never meant to be lived behind carefully managed appearances. We are invited to step into the light, trusting that grace is greater than our failures.

Of course, that raises an important question: Who do you confess to? Wisdom tells us not to confess indiscriminately. Not everyone has the maturity to carry another person’s story well. Richard Foster, in Celebration of Discipline, reminds us that confession flourishes in an atmosphere of acceptance. We are looking for someone who takes our sin seriously without making us feel beyond redemption. As Foster writes, honesty leads to confession, confession leads to change, and though confession begins in sorrow, it ends in joy.

Therefore, we should confess to someone who is spiritually mature, non-anxious, avoids the temptation of gossip, listens more than talks, knows how to receive not earn grace and has spent time beneath the Cross of Christ having already come face-to-face with the depth of his own sin. Such a person is no longer easily shocked by the failures of others because he has already been humbled by the grace of God in his own life. He does not excuse sin, but neither does he weaponize it. He knows that every confession is simply another reminder of Christ’s mission.

As Paul tells Timothy that Christ’s mission was “for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” In other words, Paul understood that his life was meant to become an illustration of Christ’s patience. If Jesus did not give up on the worst of sinners, then we should never give up on one another.

Therefore, we need to be truly and brutally honest with our sin. We cannot experience genuine spiritual formation while carefully protecting our image.

Perhaps your next step isn’t reading another book or starting another Bible study. Perhaps it’s asking one mature believer, “Can I tell you something I’ve been carrying?”

The practice of confession is where healing finally begins.

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If you are fortunate enough to be called upon to hear a friend’s confession (read the ending of Foster’s chapter on confession in Celebration of discipline), I would recommend reading these scriptures over them.

Psalm 32:1-5 — “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

Scripture Mashup: Hear the good news of the Gospel: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. Your sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west. Therefore, go in peace, for you have been made whole with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:9 –> Romans 8:1 –> Psalm 103:12  –> Romans 5:1