Confession Is Better than Perfection

I recently read that only 2% of the people who talk on cell phones while driving can do so safely. They have the true ability to give the same attention to their driving as they would if they did not use the cell phone.

I have a prediction, though it has no scientific backing. I predict that 98% of the people who talk on cell phones while driving believe they are in the 2% who can do so safely. Many of us make ourselves legends in our own minds.

This is why we fail to see many of our own sins. We don't notice when we gossip. We may call it sharing or doing so as a prayer request. We don't believe we have lied when we tell a church member that we have prayed for them when we really haven't. We don't notice our own judgment of others by the way they dress or their accent. We fail to notice our own lusts and greed.

I believe that trying to live a perfect life is a horrible way to live. I believe it leads to legalism rather than an intimate relationship with our Lord. However, I would like to be changed from the inside out by His presence so that my actions change. I would like to recognize my own sins so that I can honestly confess them.

I would rather be clean than perfect. I would rather be made righteous by God than to believe that my righteousness comes from my own actions. I would rather my God continually change me than to be without any flaw because of my own efforts. I would rather be His creation than to believe that I am my own.

Of course, getting to this point takes a lot of confession. It means that I can no longer look at my own actions and deem them good or bad. I must have the Holy Spirit who convicts me. I must pray that prayer, "Search me, O God, and see if there is any wicked way in me." This prayer made honestly will bring conviction. Conviction should bring confession.

God does the most miraculous thing when I have confessed. He cleanses me from all unrighteousness. This unrighteousness was already forgiven for our salvation but it still separated us from Him in the present. Its separated us from His word. It was necessary for the cleansing to take place.

Would you pray that prayer? "Search me, O God, and see if there is any wicked way in me."

Then, confess. His word will show itself to be in you.

1 John 1:9-10 (NIV)
⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.