Everyone is gathered around as the food is being prepared. All of the guests are whispering excitedly, “He’s here…Jesus of Nazareth…they say he healed a blind man…they say He’s the Messiah…”
Anticipation builds until He finally walks in and sits down. A hush settles in the room as the food is brought in and everyone is waiting for Him to break the bread.
Suddenly, the door flings open and a woman comes in weeping. She throws herself at the feet of Jesus, breaks open a vile of fragrant perfume, and begins to wash His feet with her hair and tears.
No one understood her act of selfless abandon, except Jesus. He explained, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Lk. 7:47).
Her ability to love is connected to her ability to receive forgiveness. It is the same for us. For us to love much, we have to receive the forgiveness of the Lord. For us to be forgiven much does not mean that we have committed a whole multitude of terrible sins. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23); therefore, we all have the same opportunity to receive the forgiveness of the Father.
The problem is that the enemy tries to hold us in the bondage of shame and condemnation with the memory of sins that we have repented for numerous times, yet we never feel truly forgiven. He does not want us to grab hold of the fact that “He who the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36).
Most of the time, we confess our sins to God and He casts them into the sea of forgetfulness (Micah 7:19), but then we continue to beat ourselves up about it for years. That holds us in bondage and keeps us from receiving forgiveness, and thus hindering us from receiving and giving love.
What I have learned is that when we confess our sins to God we are forgiven, but when we confess our sins to one another, we are healed (James 5:16).
For several months now, I have been meeting with a friend who is my accountability partner. We meet once a week to confess our sins to each other and pray for one another.
We begin by asking the Holy Spirit to come and highlight sins we committed over the past week. We wait for a few minutes as the Holy Spirit brings things to our mind. Then, we list the sins—no explaining, no excuses. We just confess them out loud to God in each other’s hearing.
Then, the listener will pray for the confessor, bind those sins to the cross, and plead the blood of Jesus over them. Next, the listener will loose forgiveness and will speak the true identity of the person over the confessor (binding and loosing from Matt. 18:18). Finally comes my favorite part, she looks me in the eyes and says, “Amanda, the Lord forgives you and I forgive you too…” Aaahh. That is the most refreshing feeling. When she says that, I actually feel the freedom that God intends me to feel anyway.
We are so accustomed to hiding our sins and covering our shame that we are afraid of confession. Once we actually do it though, we are able to feel forgiven and therefore able to love much and forgive the way the Lord intended.
Confession also helps us to walk in righteousness, knowing that we have to confess our sins to someone every week.
I want to encourage you to get an accountability partner that you meet with on a regular basis. Let them read this devotional and ask them to join with you in a quest to receive the Lord’s forgiveness and walk in holiness.
If you are married, you can confess to your spouse, but I also encourage you to have an accountability partner outside of that. Choose someone of the same sex that you trust and is reliable. Agree to total confidentiality and make it a safe place for both people. Make sure you meet on a regular basis and don’t avoid accountability if you are sinning.
This may be difficult at first, but I guarantee, you will begin to feel more freedom in the way you relate to the Lord and to other people. Really give yourself to this. It’s worth it.
Blessings,
Amanda
Copyright © 2010, Amanda Rich, All Rights Reserved
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