{"id":13138,"date":"2024-11-27T01:24:32","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T08:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2c5aa7ce-9abe-11e8-99ad-ca52c1e5b2af"},"modified":"2024-12-30T13:37:34","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T20:37:34","slug":"confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy)"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a time in my adult life when I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God. I based it on scriptures like,<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness\u201d (1 John 1:9<\/a>, ESV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At some point, though, I ran across a more intimidating verse:<\/p>\n

\u201c[C]onfess your sins to one another<\/em> and pray for one another, that you may be healed\u201d (James 5:16<\/a>) (emphasis added).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wasn\u2019t comfortable with the idea of confession as a two-part process involving God and others. It was easier to vaguely tell my friends that I was \u2014 um, you know, \u201cstruggling.\u201d It protected me from embarrassment, and more importantly, it protected my image.<\/p>\n

But then my friend Steve Blair called me out one day after I said I was \u201cstruggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStruggling with what?\u201d asked Steve.<\/p>\n

I froze up.<\/p>\n

Called Out<\/h4>\n

\u201cOh \u2014 um \u2014 it\u2019s just the stuff that everyone deals with, you know,\u201d I said, with my voice trailing off.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it doesn\u2019t really matter,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it does. Or it wouldn\u2019t be so hard for you to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was afraid of telling someone how dark my thoughts were, how much I had fooled everyone into thinking I was some kind of Christian golden boy. But I knew Steve really cared about me, and I also knew he would keep the conversation between us. So despite my great reluctance, I blurted it all out.<\/p>\n

Steve didn\u2019t even flinch. He just listened, reassured me I wasn\u2019t alone in my brokenness, and prayed for me.<\/p>\n

Still Talking<\/h4>\n

That was 16 years ago, and to this day, I still make sure I\u2019ve got a Steve or two in my life \u2014 the kind of person who will allow me to confess my brokenness<\/a> but still love me anyway. Because the thing is, I\u2019m weak, and there\u2019s nothing that makes me want to run from God like feeling unworthy of Him because of my sin.<\/p>\n

No wonder He, a good Father, wants us to confess<\/a> our sin to others. As we put words to our brokenness, the listener is privileged to enter that brokenness alongside us \u2014 providing eyes that see our shame, ears that hear our remorse, and words of assurance that echo those of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2015 Joshua Rogers. All rights reserved.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a time in my adult life when I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God. Then I learned that confessing to one another is also biblical.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":41933,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[6,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13138","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-with-others","category-spiritual-growth"],"yoast_head":"\nConfessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy) - Boundless<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God. But, as I've grown, I've learned that confessing to one another is Biblical.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There was a time in my adult life when I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boundless\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-30T20:37:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confession.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"637\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"315\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"There was a time in my adult life when I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confession.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/\",\"name\":\"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy) - Boundless\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy-6724fc3458ff8.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-27T08:24:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-30T20:37:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God. But, as I've grown, I've learned that confessing to one another is Biblical.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy-6724fc3458ff8.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy-6724fc3458ff8.webp\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"a guy talking to his friend, confessing his sin\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog Posts\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/\",\"name\":\"Boundless\",\"description\":\"Find your place. Focus your future.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Boundless\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/boundless-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/boundless-logo.png\",\"width\":1201,\"height\":289,\"caption\":\"Boundless\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy) - Boundless","description":"I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God. But, as I've grown, I've learned that confessing to one another is Biblical.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy)","og_description":"There was a time in my adult life when I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/","og_site_name":"Boundless","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org","article_modified_time":"2024-12-30T20:37:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":637,"height":315,"url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confession.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy)","twitter_description":"There was a time in my adult life when I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confession.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/","name":"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy) - Boundless","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy-6724fc3458ff8.webp","datePublished":"2024-11-27T08:24:32+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-30T20:37:34+00:00","description":"I thought we were only supposed to confess our sins to God. But, as I've grown, I've learned that confessing to one another is Biblical.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy-6724fc3458ff8.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy-6724fc3458ff8.webp","width":1500,"height":1000,"caption":"a guy talking to his friend, confessing his sin"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/confessing-sin-to-others-is-terrifying-but-healthy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog Posts","item":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Confessing Sin to Others Is Terrifying (but Healthy)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/","name":"Boundless","description":"Find your place. Focus your future.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#organization","name":"Boundless","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/boundless-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/boundless-logo.png","width":1201,"height":289,"caption":"Boundless"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/13138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/13138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}