“Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], …that you may be healed and restored.”
James 5:16, Amplified Bible.
Recently, my brother and I were laughing about how one year science says something is bad for you to eat and then the next year it’s okay for you to eat; he referred to chicken eggs. And I told him I saw an article some time last year that stated tomatoes have no nutritional value and there’s no reason to eat them. But when I did an internet search for the article I couldn’t find it. My brother told me to wait until next year. 🤣
I share this story because science can’t prove everything about the way we should live our lives. They can only guess. But there are some things that are eternal. And one of those things is the Word of God, the Bible. The scripture from James 5:16 speaks to those who are in Step 5 recovery—we are to confess our sins to someone so we may be healed.
“To work Step Five, we must reach another level of humility and willingness. To have God in all parts of our hearts and lives, we must be able to admit our exact wrongs honestly and openly. By sharing our story of poor choices, poor relationships, and poor reactions to life (i.e., sin), we get a clearer picture of the behaviors we have sown that have led to the harvest of addiction. By being exact and specific, we can no longer fool ourselves about how badly our addiction and its consequences have affected our lives and those of people around us.”
The Life Recovery Workbook, p. 42.
If you’ve ever watched any police enforcement shows one of the things they inevitably want is a confession. The police might have all the proof and witnesses they need to put the guilty person away, but they want to hear it. The act of confession makes it real. It makes it real for the person admitting guilt, and real for the people listening. All the evidence gathered and stories shared (by witnesses) aren’t the same without a confession.
When we speak the truth about our actions (confess) we release the thought energy back into life. It’s our opportunity to heal from our past actions and to let go of what’s no longer a part of Who We Are. As we continue moving forward on the recovery steps, we need to shed our past so we can build a new future.
I encourage you to find someone who is more interested in your spiritual growth than just hearing a good story. Ideally, you will want to confess to someone who has been down the same path of recovery. But sometimes, all you need is a trusted friend or relative who will not judge you and will listen with an open heart.
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