confession

Carnival Mirrors & Confessing Sin

by Ben Zornes · May 6, 2025

As we ready ourselves to confess our sins, it’s easy for a self-evaluation to trick us into confessing all the wrong things. Think of those funny mirrors at the carnival that make for some good laughs. What would I look like with short stumpy legs? What if my head quadrupled in size? Those mirrors deliberately distort reality. What is small becomes big, the wide is narrowed, the short becomes tall-ified.

Self-evaluation of sin can sometimes be like that, if you look into a mirror of your own making. Really bad sins are easy to spot. We can even obsess over them. We give them very spiritual sounding names like “my besetting sin.” But this can result in minimizing sins which are actually big but which we have conveniently slimmed down through the magic of convex mirrors.

CS Lewis, in The Great Divorce, makes this reality plain by setting two episodes in contrast with each other: a mother who, out of so-called maternal love, demands to bring her son down from heaven and into hell with her; and a man controlled by a lizard of lust. In the end, it’s the mother’s unyielding grasp upon her presumed virtue of being a nurturing mother that proves to impede her from enjoying the delights of everlasting life, whereas the lecherous man submits to the lizard’s destruction and transformation into a stallion that whisks him deep into heaven’s mountains.

All of this to say, “Do not let your eyes deceive you.” Rather, let the clear mirror of the Word show you all your sins; even, and most especially, your most admirable sins. Your presupposed virtues must be crucified. Your best attributes must be yielded up. Your merits you pride yourself in are to be repented of. This is what it means to truly humble yourself.

Hypocrisy and God’s Reputation

by Ben Zornes · Apr 15, 2024

Hypocrisy is one of the most hated sins. There are Pride parades, Pro-Choice rallies, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and anxiety support groups. But you’ll have a hard time recruiting folks to show support for “Hypocrites Rights.”

Hypocrisy is, of course, claiming to hold up some virtue or set of virtues while secretly violating those virtues. Some examples come to mind. The pro-life politician who is exposed for making his mistress get an abortion.The Pastor using tithe dollars for secret trips to Vegas. The Instagram trad-wife whose perfectly curated online image doesn’t match her real life image of laziness in homemaking and bitter snappiness in mothering. All such hypocrites will soon find their secrets out in the open, and their hidden sins made public, and God will judge it.

But amongst Christians there is a silly but dangerous temptation when it comes to hypocrisy. We know how we ought to live and the standards we ought to uphold. And if we have sinned in some arena we are tempted to think we must protect God’s reputation by not confessing our sin, bringing it into the light, and making things right. We reason that we wouldn’t want to embarrass God with a confession of our sin. As if He would need to rush a PR statement to the press when one of His people confess their sin.

God has already informed us what His position is in regards to confessed sin: He delights in mercy. That’s why there’s a bloody cross after all. He gives that mercy to those who humble themselves and confess their sin. So don’t hide your sin out of fear of what it might do to God’s reputation. His mercy is wide enough to swallow up your worst sin, and for His holiness to remain unsullied.

Our pride convinces us that God needs us to hide our sins, so as to not to bring shame upon Him. But He calls us to bring it out into the light, denounce it, be ashamed of it so that by His mercy our shame might be turned into the uplifted face of those who have received forgiveness. So then, we ought to be swift to confess our sins, so that by God’s grace we might be kept from presumptuous sins in order that we might not give way to great transgressions. If our desire is to bring honor to name of the Lord we must remember that the Word teaches us that it honors Him when we confess our sin and sinfulness. So then put your certain hope in Him, trusting in His character and nature which is a deep ocean of tender-mercies to those who put their trust in Him. This is your only hope in life and in death, that God has made a way for your sins to be confessed and for Him to forgive them all without compromising His righteousness.

Meeting with Jesus

by Ben Zornes · Oct 2, 2023

This is not a social gathering, although it does bring us the enjoyment of the society of the saints. It isn’t an academic lecture hall, even though we are duty bound by Scripture to pay heed, take note, diligently search out whether the things taught and proclaimed comport with God’s Word. It isn’t a political rally, although we make confession that makes a politically global assertion: Christ is Lord. As we gather together, we must keep one thing central: we’re gathered to meet with Jesus.

When you meet with Jesus, you are meeting with the commander of the armies of the Living God. The Captain of our Salvation. The Man of God’s Right Hand. The Anointed King of Israel, who reigns above all thrones and dominions. You meet with a Regal King. A Strong Shepherd. A Faithful Servant. A Priest. A Prophet. A Bridegroom. A Lion. A Lamb.

So, with all that in mind, have you prepared yourself to meet with such a one? Our attitude and demeanor is all too often flippant & our minds are full of distracted thoughts. But if we indeed believe what the Bible tells us about who Christ is, we ought to ready ourselves to meet with Him. So, how does Scripture command us to come?

You ought not to come to perform some perfunctory task, as if you’re keeping some scheduled but inconvenient maintenance. Rather, you’re to come in faith, with joy & reverence. He initiates this meeting, and as a worshipper You are to come with true faith in response to His summons, trusting that He wants You to partake of all His goodness. You are to come with humble reverence, for He is Almighty God; and yet this is to be mingled with gladness, for He has ordained unto us everlasting joys.

Prayer of Confession

Father God,

Fill our minds with a renewed understanding of the glory and majesty of Jesus. Save us from the distractions and worries and fears and lusts which consume our attention with trifles. You have offered us, as the hymn says, life and health and peace; yet our hearts, too often, seek after vain things. Forgive us, Father, for coming into Your presence as if our worship of You is more like a chore, rather than our chief end. As we now humbly & gladly confess our sins to you, grant us grace to robustly worship you with hearts made clean by the blood of Christ, with hands made holy by Your tender mercies, and with tongues that are full of Your praise.

You have called Your church to truth in the inward parts, so we now confess our individual sins to You. Selah.

We do this in Jesus’ mighty name, and Amen.

A Final Remark

Jesus has come to meet with us, and He meets with us by the proclamation of His Gospel by the power of His Holy Spirit. Christ comes to meet with you, and minister unto you, by assuring you of this news that is good because it is true: your sins are forgiven through Christ.

The Silt on the Creek Bed

by Ben Zornes · Sep 25, 2023

If you’ve waded in a clear stream or mountain pool you know that the pristine water is quickly made murky as all the sediment is stirred up. What once was clear as crystal becomes clouded. Where at first you may have gladly filled your canteen, now that the sludge has been stirred up you give a hard pass to drinking from that stream.

When circumstances you can’t control invade your peace, it tends to churn up all sorts of silt which you had become unaware of. Perhaps you lash out with a tone of voice you thought you’d never use. Or you venture down an unrighteous course of action, which you once would have considered unimaginable. Or the stress of your burdens paralyze you to inaction and indifference.

When circumstances stir up sinful emotions and desires, you ought not to lay the blame at your circumstances. Instead, you must learn that these events are chosen by God as tools to expose to your sight sinful sediment that has been hidden from sight for awhile. Our circumstances are not haphazardly chosen by God, He ordains all that comes to pass in order to remove impurities from your life.

For instance, an angry outburst at your family after a long day at the office is a revelation that unrighteous anger has been settling into the creek bed of your heart. Our sin, in other words, doesn’t come from nowhere. It comes from within us, and we’re often quite meticulous to try to keep others from noticing the lust, resentment, fear, grudges, and greed that’s been slowly building up beneath the surface.

But God loves to shake things. He knows what particular set of adversities you need to dislodge your sin from the riverbed, and draw your attention to it. Don’t be embarrassed when your sin is made clear to you, be humbled. For God shakes things up, in order to set you free.

The best thing for us is for our sin to be made clear to us. We too often let it fester and breed in hidden corners of our hearts, and we think we can keep it isolated and under control. But the only way to deal with our sin is to kill it without mercy. God’s grace is tactical in that it forces us to see the various and manifold sins we’ve been tolerating in our own hearts and lives. Whether it be desiring what is not ours to have, or keeping that which we are commanded to give. May God forgive us for disobeying His Word, while obeying our sinful desires.

God, by His Word and through our circumstances, draws our eyes to see where we have sinned against Him. This isn’t to rub it in our face, but in order that we might humble ourselves and so be made clean by this glorious Word of the Gospel.

Sin on the Bowstring

by Ben Zornes · Jun 19, 2023

A feature of the Protestant tradition is how we view sin. On one hand, the littlest sin is a big deal. On the other, the biggest sin, when confessed and repented, is forgiven & God the all-knowing promises to forget it.

Some might think this is a moral cognitive dissonance. The casual philosopher might deridingly speculate that you’re trying to self-flagellate & self-congratulate at the same time. But there is a way to hold these two truths in tension. In fact we must do so so as to not fall into errors in either direction. The tension of the bowstring is what makes the bow able to shoot an arrow. And it is this tension of mourning the vileness of our sin while also rejoicing in our absolute and full forgiveness which sends the arrow of our sanctification flying.

Sin is not just an annoying pebble in your shoe. Rather, your sin is a damnable treason against the God who made you. But if the Lord’s Christ has died in your stead for your sins, you are now forensically justified. God declares you are not guilty.

It isn’t minimizing sin to rejoice that God through Christ has forgiven every foul sin of every true saint. But you also can’t exaggerate how dark indeed is our sinful state and how dangerous it is to even trifle with sin. The Word of God points out to us how contemptible is our sin, and then promises that because Christ died in our place, any guilt or shame regarding our sin is taken away.

These two truths in tension should lead us to swift and genuine confession of our sin, and diligent zeal to resist future temptation to sin by the great grace of our glorious God. Hate your sin, and confess it now, and then walk as if it is entirely forgiven.

Part of our sin is that we often aren’t honest with ourselves about how deep our sin runs. We can point to our obvious sins of lust, envy, anger, or deceit. But we hide from the truth that we have many vain glories which we think are our best character traits. God call us to submit to the surgeon’s knife of His Spirit’s work, exposing all the dark corners where we’ve been defiled by our sin. You should ask the Lord to give you grace to see not only your blatant sin, but the sin you choose to ignore, the sin which others praise you for, the sin which hides in plain sight. And then know that when you confess your sin, God promises to wash you with the assurance that by the Son, you are free, you are clean, you are justified freely.

So then, hold these two truths together, you are a great sinner, but Christ is a greater Savior.

How Not to Prosper

by Ben Zornes · Mar 6, 2023

The only way to live under God’s blessing is to have your sins covered. Too many Christians, however, think that it’s enough to nod in the general direction of “sin”, use plenty of “nobody’s perfect” type platitudes, and then launch into a praise chorus about God’s wonderful grace.

The Word of God tells us that, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper (Pro 28:13).” Many people cover their sins with empty promises to do better. Or they assume that the grape soda of traditional values is a decent substitute for the new wine of the glorious Gospel of God’s grace. They cover their sins by comparing themselves to death-row murderers, drug cartel king-pins, or–worst of all–US Senators. Compared to those guys, I’m doing ok. But this isn’t how God calls you to cover your sins.

God will not be satisfied with lame excuses about how your sin wasn’t as bad as that guys. Or that you have discerned that your sin should actually be called childhood trauma, a brief misstep, a poorly timed joke, or a white lie. But covering your own sins, either by hiding them, lying about them, renaming them, or ignoring them has this assurance from God: it will not prosper. You won’t rest under God’s blessing.

God desires to cover your sin, not by evading the truth, but by bringing you to confess about your sin what God says about your sin. The second half of that earlier verse promises this: “but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Peel the bandaid off. Tell the truth about your sin. Confess it to God, and to those you’ve sinned against. In this alone is how we receive mercy & dwell under God’s blessing. Not by the stubbornness of pride, but by humble faith in His mercy.

God’s great love will truly cover our sins, because it is by His love alone that our sin is revealed by His Holy Law, and then cleansed away as we look to Christ. We must go to God alone for forgiveness for evading our shame and guilt, by not confessing our sin. Whether it be angry outbursts, worried depression, lustful longings, envious discontentment, grumbling bitterness, or loose tongued lies & slanders, give us grace to tell the truth about our sin. The Lord sees it, and we would be fools to try to hide it from Him. So we bring it out into the light of His Word, that we might taste no more the bitter taste of hidden sin, but the sweet honey of Christ’s mercy.

In confessing your sins you bring your sins to the Light of the World, and so you come to walk in the light and He is in the light. This then is the path of true blessing, and clearness of conscience and joy in Christ.

Christmas in the Light

by Ben Zornes · Dec 19, 2022

The coming of Christ was like the dawning of the day. The Apostle John framed his coming this way, “The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth (1Jo 2:8).” This was nothing less than what the Prophet Isaiah had foretold in his wonderful words, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined (Isa. 9:2). Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. (Isa 60:1).”

Christmas is the celebration of God opening the curtains, and exposing to mankind how dark indeed was the darkness in which we were living. He sent His Son, to be the light, in order to show us how to be truly human. Since His advent, we now live in the day, not in the dark.

Your sin cannot hide from God, so don’t pretend it can. Your lies & evasions won’t cloud the Son of Righteousness that has arisen. The Church’s task is to teach the world to live in the Light of Christ’s glory. This is why we make a habit of confession of sins.

Christmas calls you to humble yourself, and confess your sins one to another. It summons you to curb your lusts by the power of the Spirit. You can no longer slink around in the dark alleys of spite, sloth, or slander. Christ’s coming means that every hidden drawer, closet, and cave are bathed in His Kingdom’s Light.

All the current convulsions of our culture are from its insane attempt to try to go back into the pre-Bethlehem darkness. But the powers and principalities are overthrown. Christ is King of this planet. We live in the Light, as He is in the Light, because He is the Light of the World.

Always remember, it is a mercy whenever your sin comes to light. You ought not think that keeping your sins hidden is for the best, or that it is even possible. We most certainly live in a time when rebellious men are attempting to bring the world back into shadow. But, whenever we avoid hard conversations, refusing to bring our sin into the Light, we have joined that foolish project of trying to live as if Christmas never happened. So as the Psalmist said, “O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles (Ps. 43:3).”

Refusing to confess your sin is like trying to live in the White Witch’s Christmas-less winter. But when you confess your sin to God, and to those you’ve sinned against, Christmas has indeed come.