Mutual Confession

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James 5:16

Confessing faults means to admit weaknesses and to acknowledge failures in our Christian lives. It is often difficult to get Christians to do this, despite the clear counsel of God's Word. It goes against the grain to display an image of oneself that is anything less than perfect. Many Christians fear that they will be rejected by others if they admit to any faults. But nothing could be more destructive to authentic Christian fellowship and body life than the practice of pretending not to have any problems.

Many Christian families are suffering with conflict, sickness, dysfunctional behavior, addictions, pain, employment problems, and the like — yet those same families project an image of warm and fuzzy, idyllic Christian perfection. To make matters worse, this tragic conspiracy of silence is regarded as the Christian thing to do, and the hypocrisy it presents to the outside world is considered a necessary part of a family's witness. How helpful and healing it would be if our Christian families — and our collective church family — would honestly confess the pain and problems that exist so that restoration can take place.

This kind of honesty would also be helpful and healing to families. People need to hear that other Christians have the same kinds of problems. They need to hear other Christians say, I really admire your honesty in sharing this issue, and your courage in taking this step toward healing. They need to have their issues and problems mirrored back to them by other believers, so that they can see their own problems more clearly. They need to receive the counsel and prayers of other believers, so that the healing power of God can be released in their midst.

Whenever spiritual awakenings have occurred throughout Christian history, they have always been accompanied by a restoration of koinonia-fellowship, including the confession of faults. During the Wesleyan awakening in eighteenth century England, the great evangelist George Whitefield wrote to his converts: My brethren … let us plainly and freely tell one another what God has done for our souls. To this end you would do well, as others have done, to form yourselves into little companies of four or five each, and meet once a week to tell each other what is in your hearts; that you may then also pray for and comfort each other as need shall require. None but those who have experienced it can tell the unspeakable advantages of such a union and communion of souls.

Father, we need honesty in our families and in our churches. Give us the courage to be honest so that we can pray for, and comfort, each other.