COMPLETE HONESTY

“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!

Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,

whose lives are lived in complete honesty!”  Psalms 32:1-2 (NLT)

Complete honesty, you have got to be kidding me. The thought of being completely honest is horrifying. If anyone knew what I had done, no one would want to be around me. At least that’s what I tell myself and believe in this moment of secrecy.  The psalmist says that when I am completely honest, I will find a life free of guilt, full of forgiveness and joy. But everything within me says, “That is crazy!”  Complete honesty requires confession.  If people know what I have done they will stop loving me, they will stop being my friend, and she will no longer want to be in a relationship with me. These are the lies that I tell myself.  Charles Spurgeon once said, “It does not spoil your happiness to confess your sin.  The unhappiness is in not making the confession.”

What is complete honesty? How do I confess?

The first step of complete honesty begins with me confessing some things to myself that are true.  I must confess that my sin is my fault!  Yes, others may have acted wrong towards me, hurt me, abandoned me, yet it is my reaction to their sin that I must own.  Others may have planted seeds, that circumstances and events may have fertilized, but I am the one who allowed sin to grow. I need to tell myself this truth.  It is painful, but it is true.  When I see others as the fault of my sin, I am powerless to change my situation and to find victory.  Therefore, the first step of complete honesty is confession of my sin, in all its ugliness, to myself.  Now I am ready to take the next step towards a clean heart, forgiveness, and joy.

The second step of complete honesty is the confession of my sin to God. This confession is not because He needs to know something, for there is nothing He does not know.  He knows all my sins before I do and before I am even honest with myself about them.  Confession is the process of “agreeing with that which is true”.  Throughout God’s word He states that He created humanity for holiness, purity, and to reflect His image.  So, when I confess my sin to God I am agreeing with Him that my thoughts, motives and/or actions were unholy, impure, and contrary to His image.  It is in that agreement that I can now walk truthfully with God (Amos 3:3).  If I do not confess my sin to God, I will find myself walking in shame, guilt, and loneliness.  Saint Augustine put it this way, “ In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You.”  In my complete honesty with God I experience, through Jesus, a clean heart, forgiveness,  joy, and the power of the Holy Spirit to take the third step of complete honesty.

The third step of complete honesty is the confession of my sin to those that God will use to help me make restitution where needed, seek reconciliation where appropriate, and to build and maintain a life that reflects His image.  We are called to live in relationships and community (Hebrews 10:24-25), but sin separates and seeks to destroy relationships and community.  When my sin has created separation within a relationship and/or my community, it is my responsibility to be completely honest about my sin with others so we may be reconciled (Galatians 6:1-10).  Confessing my sin to a fellow follower of Jesus, who I trust, can bring about hope and healing to my relationships and within my community (James 5:16).  My honesty with someone else who can pray with me, hold me accountable, and give me guidance; empowers me to live in healthy relationships and community.

Are you completely honest?  What confessional step(s) do you need to take to develop honesty?

“A man’s very highest moment is, I have no doubt at all, when he kneels in the dust, and beats his breast, and tells all the sins of his life.” -Oscar Wilde

Robert Posner pastored two churches for 26 years before a moral failure brought his world crashing down around him. After years of recovery and reconciliation, today, he and his wife Judy are Certified Professional Mentors^TM and founders of 2416 Ministries, helping men build and maintain a life that is pursuing Biblical sexual integrity and helping wives find healing from the trauma of betrayal. Members of First Free Will Baptist Church, Duncanville TX. Parents of three and grandparents of five.