THE POWER OF CONFESSION

My wife and I were Service Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint’s Addiction Recovery Program.  During our five years of service, I was amazed at how many new thoughts about the Atonement of Jesus Christ came to us.  Watching the Savior’s Atonement work in the lives of willing people was truly life changing.  One of the twelve steps of recovery focuses on the principle of confession.   As I have contemplated confession, I ponder about its necessity.  It certainly isn’t for the Lord.  A person’s confession isn’t going to inform Him of something He doesn’t already know.  If confession isn’t for Him, it must be for the confessor.  If confession isn’t informational, what does confession accomplish?  Confession is sometimes hard.  It’s a personal admission and disclosure of personal failure, weakness, or rebellion.  I’ve been constrained to confess things that were very difficult for me.  I have also been in the position to accept confession from others, many tragic and heartbreaking.  Families were broken apart and innocent children impacted in ways that added to their already heavy load borne by the one who sinned.  Many tears have been shed at the time of confession but often more were shed by those hurt, betrayed, or otherwise negatively impacted by the act that required confession.  The consequences of sin are never limited to only the one who committed the sin.  Such consequences always touch others, often those who are entirely innocent.  It was the ultimate Sinless One, Jesus Christ, the One most innocent of all, who bore the weight of all sin along with its painful and complicated consequences.  So why does the Lord require confession when He knows intimately the entire extent of each person’s life, sins, rationalizations, and motives?  When a person begins to feel inclined to confess, whether directly to the recipient of their wrong or to proper priesthood authority when serious breaches of covenants have occurred, they invariably encounter the adversary’s efforts to prevent them from confessing.  Satan much prefers sins be kept hidden in the darkness, in his domain.  If he can convince a person to keep their sins hidden, he can more capably keep one captive.  When a person musters the faith and courage to confess, it’s as though they plant a banner firmly in the soil of their life, declaring their intent to change course, marking an end to the devil’s dominion over them, and proclaiming to someone else and to God their desire to return to their spiritual roots.  It is yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and taking the first outward step in putting off the natural man.  It is an open act that beckons the universal reach of Christ’s Atonement into their life.  It is laying the burden of their guilt at the feet of the Savior, accepting His eternal invitation to allow Him to carry their burden, while taking upon themselves His yoke instead.  The act of confession is framed by the desire to repent, to come out of the darkness into the light.  Indeed, confession is for the one who sinned.  I once listened to the confession of a person who, after delaying their confession for several years, could carry the burden of their guilt no longer.  In a deep and emotional session, their life was laid bare before the Lord without any rationalization or excuse.  After it was all out, after almost unrelenting tears were finally subdued, this person looked at me and said that one of the reasons it had been so difficult to reach that point was because they didn’t want me to think less of them.  And then, with probing eyes fastened on me they asked, “Do you think less of me?”  It wasn’t hard to answer and I didn’t even have to gather my thoughts.  I knew how hard it was to sit where they were sitting and do what they were doing.  My near instant response was, “No.  I don’t think any less of you.  In fact, I think more of you because I know what courage it took for you to confess and why you did.  You want to be right with the Lord again.”  When they left that night everything in their life was out in the light.  They had taken a major step away from the darkness of devilish dominion.  The adversary holds the shame of the act over the head of the sinner, as a means of control, convincing them that revealing the sin will cost them things they don’t want to lose.  This fear of exposure keeps the sinner bound by shame, isolated and alone.  They live a life full of fear, lies, and deception in order to avoid the indignity of disclosure.  Confession throws open the curtains, shining a divine light upon devilish darkness.  Confession removes the threat of discovery.  Once exposed, what leverage does the devil have?  It begins the process of forgiveness that can ultimately lead to the healing of the wounded soul.  The load of the sinner is lifted, shifted from one who was weak to One who is mighty and strong, One perfectly willing and able to carry such a load.  In that ecclesiastical setting, a life changed direction that night.  It was only possible because of the power of a loving Redeemer who willingly paid the price for each of us.  But Christ’s infinite and eternal gift, which brought peace and the portent of complete healing, was initiated by that person’s decision to accept the Savior’s sacred gift simply by deciding to change direction, turn toward Him.  Notice was given by their confession.