Confession After Grace

“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” (Lu 15:20-21 AV)

How many of us would have still confessed our fault after our father had compassion, hugged and kissed, and welcomed us home?  Think about it.  We might have thought, “My father knows how sorry I am.  I don’t need to express it.”  Or, “I thought what I did was really bad, but it seems Dad doesn’t think so.”  Or, “We are guys.  We don’t have to express our feelings.”  Or, “Well, it looks like nothing has changed. So, oh well.”  In our pride, most of us would probably let the apology slide.  Especially men.  We don’t feel the need to be vulnerable.  We don’t feel the need to exercise humility.  Things often go unsaid because we are too proud to admit our faults.  We expect them to be known, yet unexpressed.

Trying to think of a time when I did not express my wrong doing to my Dad is difficult.  It was the norm.  I can remember the times that I took initiative in confessing my fault because they were the rare times.  Like the time I broke the sheet rock and ran away from home for a day.  My dad already knew what I had done and my confession made reconciliation all the more easy.  But there is another application here for fathers as well.  We need to make it as easy as possible for our children to confess their faults.  This father loved on his child before the child confessed.  Sometimes, that is the appropriate thing to do and encourages our children to be right with us.

Yet, I am thinking of our confessions to the LORD.  We endure the chastening hand of God, yet fail to confess afterwards.  We think enduring eating with the swine was sufficient penance that confession is not necessary.  When it still is.  When the hardship of chastening is over and the grace of God abounds again, that is often the best time for confession because we are not confessing to end the chastening.  We are confessing because we were wrong.  There is no more to gain. Grace is there.  Time to come clean of heart.