Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “he who is alone in his sin is utterly alone.” He was emphasizing the importance of confession as part of the Christian faith. He was encouraging willingness to confess sins to a fellow believer.
From my experience we are afraid to be viewed as sinners. Sure, we are willing to admit in a general way that we are all sinners. But when is the last time you told someone, “I struggle with this” or “could you keep me accountable on this part of my life?” As a side note accountability groups/partnerships are not always men talking about sexual temptation (although it can be). What if we got together and said, “I really have a hard time accepting people sometimes because I am too judgmental,” or “I find myself complaining a lot and not contributing at church, keep me accountable as to how I am making a difference in the body.”
As a therapist I have experienced adults telling me things that happened to them decades ago that they have never told anyone else. It is always freeing for them to share that. I can only imagine how “utterly alone” one must feel holding in things like that for years.
So now that I have taken Bonhoeffer language and “dared us to be sinners” how should we accomplish this? A vital part of this is trust. Forming relationships with people you trust is paramount, because in my opinion-second to not wanting people to know how crooked we really are–is our fear (justifiably) of people sharing this info with their cousin’s friend’s mother.
That being said we need to learn the spiritual discipline of keeping trust before we can develop the act of confession.
I am just now taking steps in learning how to perform the spiritual discipline of confession. For those of you who have been successfully doing this for quite some time, please give me some input.
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
—-James 5:16
May we learn to keep trust, and confess our sins so that we are able to experience the healing power of a fellow believer praying over those sins and keeping us accountable.
The Therapy of Life 