Confession
How Christians should be taught to confess.
What is Confession?
Confession embraces two parts: the one is, that we confess
our sins; the other, that we receive absolution, or forgiveness, from the
confessor, as from God Himself, and in no wise doubt, but firmly believe, that
our sins are thereby forgiven before God in heaven.
These are simple yet powerful words. We confess our sins and
we receive forgiveness. Daily we need plead for mercy. Daily we need to have
the assurance that our sins have been forgiven. We need to be penitent sinners
– sinners who feel sorry for their sins and who believe in their Lord Jesus as
the only Savior. David reminds us in
Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heat, O God, Thou wilt not despise.”
When we are heart sorry for our sins ,we will readily want to confess our sin
and turn away from them. Having confessed our sins, we will rejoice in hearing
those wonderful word, “your sins are forgiven!” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. (Acts
16:31) Contrition and faith are the two
ingredients necessary for a true confession.
O almighty God,
merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto Thee all my sins and
iniquities with which I have ever offended Thee and justly deserved Thy
temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely
repent of them, and I pray Thee of Thy boundless mercy and for the sake of the
holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
the be gracious and merciful to me, a poor sinful being.
The General Confession, The Lutheran Hymnal © 1941 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis
Artwork by Ed Rojas, © Higher Things
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