“If you start confessing your sins to the people you’ve sinned against, odds are that you’re not going to go back and commit those same sins again.”

A thought by Andy Stanley, (2009-08-22) from his book, It Came from Within!: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart (p. 116). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition.

We many times are confused over the fact that confession of an action doesn’t always end with our confession to God. That is a part of confession but there is also the part of confessing to the people that you’ve sinned against. You see, our desire needs to also be to not commit the same sin again.

Let’s say, you cheat on a test and you confess to God but if you then confess to your teacher that you cheated, there is a great chance that you won’t cheat again.

Let’s say it another way, the thought of you facing your spouse, or facing your kids and confessing to them that you cheated sexually with someone else may be a way of keeping you from giving in to the temptation to cheat sexually. Anything to keep us from giving in to the temptation will be a good thing.

Another thing to see is that some people think that if they confess to God and then to a minister then that is enough. But the key is, do they stop doing it.

Now God knows us because He created us and He knows our enemy and the way he works. That is why He has put into play actions that will free us from guilt, confessing to Him, and then free us from doing the sin again, confessing to the other person.

Andy said it this way: “Guilty people are usually repeat offenders. And as long as you are carrying a secret, as long as you are trying to ease your conscience by telling God how sorry you are, you are setting yourself up to repeat the past. However, confession—the way God designed confession to be applied—breaks the cycle of sin and guilt.”

And isn’t that what you want?

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