Perhaps the most neglected aspect of the Christian life is confession. It is hard for us to admit that we are sinners, and in need of forgiveness. Since the prevailing culture promotes doing whatever makes you feel good without guilt, and refuses to allow judging others as to their life-choices unless it is illegal; there is the rejection of being accountable to the higher authority of God as revealed in the Bible’s commandments. Ash Wednesday and Lent reminds us that confession and repentance is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven. A humble, contrite, broken spirit is the principal mark of a Christian. This goes against the secular teaching that we should fulfill our desires, whatever they may be, and have no negative thoughts about ourselves. It denies the reality of our self-centeredness and our rebellion against our Creator and Savior. John Stott comments,
“Self-congratulation and the worship of God are mutually incompatible. Those who have a high view of themselves always have a corresponding low view of God. It is those who have seen God high and lifted up, exalted in indescribable glory above the universe, who become overwhelmed with a sense of their own sinfulness and unworthiness. Modern men and women may value “self-esteem,” but God thinks differently. “This is the one I esteem,” he says: “he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Is.66:2). Our proud, self-confident, self-congratulatory generation urgently needs to recover this biblical perspective. I do myself. It is the acme of health and holiness.”
To help us to be honest with ourselves and to confess our sins I include this prayer for Ash Wednesday.
Merciful Lord,
I confess all my sins of this day, week, year,
All the sins of my life,
Sins of early, middle, and advanced years,
Of omission and commission,
Of morose, peevish and angry tempers,
Of lip, life and walk,
Of hard-heartedness, unbelief, presumption, pride,
Of unfaithfulness to the world of men and women,
Of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ,
Of deficiency in outspoken zeal for his glory,
Of bringing dishonor upon your great name,
Of deception, injustice, untruthfulness in my dealings with others,
Of impurity in thought, word and deed,
Of covetousness, which is idolatry,
Of substance unduly hoarded, improvidently squandered,
Not consecrated to the glory of you, the great giver;
Sins in private and in the family,
In study and recreation, in the busy haunts of life,
In the study of your Word and in the neglect of it,
In prayer irreverently offered and coldly withheld,
In time misspent,
In yielding to Satan’s wiles,
In opening my heart to his temptations,
In being unwatchful when I know him near,
In quenching the Holy Spirit;
Sins against light and knowledge,
Against conscience and the restraints of your Spirit,
Against the law of eternal love.
Pardon all my sins, known and unknown, felt and unfelt,
Confessed and not confessed,
Remembered or forgotten.
Good Lord, hear; and hearing, forgive.
(The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, p.87)
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