On Sunday I was teaching Sunday school to a bunch of teenagers. The topic was: the tongue, and the trouble it can get us into. We read and discussed a bunch of passages that would give us a window of understanding from God’s Word.

I asked them “what do you do when you say something you should not have? You head home, and the conversation is eating away at you?” Their answers surprised me. “I get myself super busy, so I don’t have to think about it”. Another said: “I binge watch a show I don’t like so it really takes my mind off of it”. Some of them shared how they “replay the conversation and rehearse what they should have said.” I asked them if they would go to their friends and apologize? They looked horrified when I asked that! Only one said they went back to their friends and confessed that they should not have said what they did and apologized. She said her friends just look at her like she lost her mind. I asked her: “how did you feel though?” She said it did not matter how her friends responded, she felt better.

For myself, I experience such a weight in my soul when I know I have said more than I should have or spoke unkindly, I can easily lose sleep over it. I have learned to just make things right.

In light of this conversation, these scriptures lay things out very clearly:

“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful.” James 5:16

“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13

One of the commentaries I read regarding Proverbs 28:13 said this about confession- “Confession is the soul’s vomit, and those who use it, shall have ease of conscience, but God best comforts and cordials to restore them again.” (Trapp) While a very graphic description, I see the truth in it. Even if confession is not very popular in our culture today, it remains helpful and restorative for our souls. We don’t have to go into the gross details. We need to say enough to be understood and leave it. Peace arrives and God will comfort us.

Dear Father,

Thank you for the practice of confession before You and others when that is what is needed. Give me courage to be honest to confess what I ought and wisdom to carry it through. Thank You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen.