The Mercy of Confession (Psalm 6)

This Sunday, Ethan May, Pastor of Community Life and Outreach at Anchor Bay Church, joined us to remind us that God’s love and mercy removes any perceived distance we feel from God. While “confession” isn’t quite a big feeling as much as it’s an act, it’s still an important theme that we see throughout the Psalms. And, the idea of confessing does often bring with it other big feelings or thoughts.

Sometimes we can think of confession as being the thing right before punishment. We confess, then we’re punished. If we think of confession in that way it’s obviously a bad thing in our minds. So then what happens when we hear the Bible say, “Confess your sins to God”? 

It’s easy to think of confession like that, like it’s a big “gotcha!” moment. But what happens when we live like that and avoid it at all costs? When we don’t come to God, we hold it all in. And as time passes, and we feel as if this great abyss forms between us and God. It feels like our sin is keeping us from God.

But there is no abyss—because Christ has already died on the cross, defeating sin once and for all. He doesn’t have to do it again, our sins don’t mean we’re putting him back up on the cross. Christ has already died for us, already risen, and already bridged any gap that we’ve let our sins convince us we’ve created.