Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:2 (Msg)
| "Confession is simply agreeing with God, not arguing with him." |
This week’s devotionals are from Buddy Owens, teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of ‘The Way of a Worshiper’.
There are two words that are absolutely necessary for you to understand if you want to become a new person: confession and repentance.
You may think these words sound too religious or that confession and repentance will only make you feel rotten about yourself. But actually, when you understand what these words mean, you’ll see that they are positive, freeing, enlightening, liberating, and filled with hope. Confession and repentance are actually joyful words.
Confession means we say the same thing God says. Confession means we simply agree with God. We don’t argue with him about our sin; instead, we say the same thing about our sin that God says about our sin. We say, “You’re right, God. What I did was wrong.”
An example of this is in Psalm 51, when David said, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge” (Psalm 51:4 NIV).
And it is our confession then leads to repentance. Repentance means to change the way you think. It is more than just changing your behavior; it means you also change your mind.
So confession (saying the same thing God says) leads to repentance (thinking the way God thinks). Saying what God says enables you to think what God thinks. And when you learn to think differently, you begin to behave differently: “Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:2b (Msg)
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