At CYC last weekend, Reed Swindle presented a lesson titled “Unashamed to Confess”.  In his lesson, Reed described three types of confession. First, he described confession as an important part of the salvation process in asking for forgiveness of our sins and to remove our unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 (NIV) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

James 5:16 (NIV) “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed…”

Reed explained that an important part of remaining faithful to God is confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness as we try to fix the sinful desires in our lives.

Secondly, he described confession as just admitting something. Reed described this as more of a “watered down” version of the word and is our way of having an excuse by saying we “may or may not” have done something. Reed declared the problem with this concept of confession is we use it to make it easier on ourselves when admitting our faith, saying “I may or may not be a Christian” or “I may or may not believe Jesus is the son of God”.

Finally, Reed described the third way the word confession is used as a much stronger word that has more strength than just “admitting” something. He expressed that confession is more than just admitting something, it has passion, commitment, it includes prayer and it’s a full decision. Reed proclaimed that confession is a lifestyle, and that as Christians we are not to confess with our mouths, but with our lives.

Reed concluded his lesson by emphasizing that refusing to confess is a denial of Christ and challenged each of us individually by stating, “Jesus was unashamed to die for you, why are you ashamed to live your life for him?”