Today is True Confession Day.

When some people think about “true confessions,” they think of the outrageous headlines of the supermarket tabloids: “I was a Teen-age werewolf,” or “I weighed 500 pounds and never left my house” or “I was raised in the forest by a pack of wild dogs.”

For a Christian, “True Confession Day” is every day. When we confess our sins, we are in essence telling Jesus that we know what we’ve done is wrong and that we are willing to turn from it. We are recognizing that we have this problem called sin and that we need Jesus’ help in overcoming it. Through confession we are making sure that we don’t try to hide our wrongdoings from God.

And confession is not just for “sensational” sins. It includes the most basic of wrongs we’ve done (“I called my brother stupid”). True confession for a follower of Jesus is all about reconnecting with God, because we understand that our sin separates us from him. We not only admit our past sins, but we commit ourselves to try not to sin again in the future.

So what happens as a result of confession? That’s the wonderful part. When we confess our sins, the Bible tells us that God “is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.” We are restored into fellowship with him again. It means we don’t have to confess the same sin over and over again. It also means that we don’t need to be perfect before God in order for him to accept us. He knows we can’t do that. It isn’t humanly possible. That’s why he sent his Son to die on the cross for us.

True confession brings true forgiveness and restores true fellowship with God.

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong (1 John 1:9).

To Do

Take a few minutes to think about what you need to confess right now before God. Don’t worry—he’s listening and wants to forgive you!

Also on this day . . .

Today is National Hug Your Cat Day (if he or she will let you!)

1602—Cape Cod (MA) was discovered by Bartholomew Gosnold.

1940—Nylon stockings hit the market for the first time.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.