Daily Devotional – Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed…
James 5:16 (NKJV)
For more than two weeks, I avoided meeting him. I would turn my face whenever we met. He would do the same. However, it was not easy to pretend we were strangers after a long lasting our friendship.
The words that triggered the conflict had come from me. He, too, had contributed through his anger-inspired expletives. If I asked for forgiveness, would I not appear weak? Perhaps if I waited longer, he would take the first step.
Bearing the Painful Weight of Guilt with Pride
Unfortunately, my attitude did not assuage my pain and guilt. Stress and anxiety weighed heavily on me.
One day, I walked into a restaurant and there he was, alone, deep in thought. Without a second thought, I approached the table, put my hand around his shoulder and asked him to forgive me.
At that point, I felt as if a heavy burden had rolled down my back. It did not matter whether he forgave me. To my surprise and delight, he embraced me and asked for forgiveness, too. Like me, he had suffered during our period of separation and silence.
Confess Your Trespasses to One Another
James may have had this kind of scenario in mind when he wrote, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed…” (James 5:16). As my friend and I poured out our hearts to each other that day, we experienced physical, emotional and spiritual healing.
Jesus taught the importance of confessing our wrongs to those we have hurt, in addition to seeking God’s forgiveness (Read Matthew 5:23-24). Some of the deep divisions in families and churches can only be healed through sincere confession, forgiveness and restitution.
Paying the Price for Healing
Is there are relationship that is broken because of your unwillingness to ask for forgiveness? Will your swallow your pride and confess your sin to your accuser? What price are you willing to pay for healing in your relationship family, society or nation?
Lord Jesus, give me humility to acknowledge my sin towards others and to ask for forgiveness. I want healing in all my relationships.
Pride oftenly has become the notorious barrier in healing these broken relationships, for confession would be seen as weakness and one has the fear of being the looser.
We should be willing to acknowledge our sins and confess to one another without caring whether he/she will make the first move, whether he/she was wrong and I was right. The most important thing is to restore the relationship.
Amen. First things first – restore the relationship.
These also truncates to our relationship with God, when our sins cause separation we need to acknowledge them in repentance and with, humility and genuineness confess them to God and He has promised to forgive us.
If we say that we have no sin, (motivated by our pride), we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Thank you for linking the two aspects of confession, Doc.
Being on the front line to confess before our adverseries; seeking those who trespass against us for bridge up is an important message I got. Jesus’ supreme Humility and forgiveness is the author’s prayer. This is my prayer too.
Amen, Danvas
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