Confess Your Sins

February 21, 2021 (Sunday)

We have been writing about confession of sin and walking closely with the Lord. During this Lenten season when our brothers and sisters of other faiths practice these spiritual disciplines, we Baptists continue practicing them, although not as parts of special worship before Easter. The point of Lent is to draw people close to the Lord, and we Baptists have no quarrel with that.

Just as Lent begins with confession of sins, so does any spiritual journey toward a closer walk with God start with confession of sins. I think we can say with assurance that any sin mentioned by name is an action that disobeys at least one of the Ten Commandments. Those commandments were given to Israel as part of God’s covenant with the nation. Although they are associated with the Old Covenant of Law, they also stand alone as moral law. Any discussion of morality will involve The Ten Commandments.

These commandments are written on the hearts of Christians. We know immediately if we break one of them. The first four commandments are about our relationship with God, and the rest are about our relationship with our fellow human beings.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

   1. You shall have no other gods before Me.

   2. You shall not make idols.

   3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in             vain.

   4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

   5. Honor your father and your mother.

   6. You shall not murder.

   7. You shall not commit adultery.

   8. You shall not steal.

   9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

 10. You shall not covet.

There are many ways to break one or more of the commandments.  The list gives us a starting point as we examine our own lives. If any action on my part seems to violate a commandment, then that action is sinful. If I am intending to rededicate my life to Christ this Easter season, then this is where I must begin, with confession of sin to the Lord God Almighty.