When I kept silent,
    my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
For day and night
    your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
    as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
    and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
    my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
    the guilt of my sin. 
Psalm 32:3-5

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I have learned over the years that it is best to promptly confess my sins to God. It is not that He keeps score. Rather, I can feel the break in unity with His Spirit, and if I let it go on for a while, that disconnect gets really uncomfortable. It bleeds over into my mood and how I interact with others. It is not good.

This was especially true when I first began following Jesus. I had known and experienced Him many times prior, but once I surrendered my life fully to Him, our relationship changed completely. I could no longer keep Him at arm’s length and easily dismiss Him. Suddenly, Jesus was front and center in my awareness and life. And I would rebel against that, against His presence, because I got tired of having to change and share with Him. Life suddenly felt like having to share a small one-man tent with a huge basketball player—it felt crowded. That is when I would sometimes purposely sin just to get a break from His strong presence. That was dumb and self-destructive behavior that I grew out of as I began to heal and mature in my relationship with Him.

Other times, I sinned by refusing to reconcile with the person I was angry with. I resisted the Holy Spirit nudging me to forgive the other person and to examine my contribution to the incident. Someone said that hatred is drinking poison and hoping the other person will die. Unconfessed sin is like that. It is a spiritual poison that pollutes the entire person.

Nowadays, I want to live in an unbroken union with God. Thanks to life with Him, I have grown, healed, and matured. But I still do sin, sometimes willfully, sometimes just in reaction to something or someone. Unlike when I was younger, I am quick to confess my “falling short” (Romans 3:23) to God and to pray for the other person and myself to be blessed by God. Fortunately, God does not keep score, although He never lowers the standards of what sin is: Human behavior that is contrary to the will of God. 

Next Steps

Take a few moments and ask God to bring to mind anything that you need to confess, then confess it directly to Him. Ask God for forgiveness and help to not repeat that particular stumble. To be freed from the sin and renewed in His Spirit.

Prayerfully read Psalm 51 and talk with God. Learn from Him and enjoy His love and presence.