“I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God”.  Add those words with the placing of your hand on the Holy Bible and you have a sworn oath.  A sacred promise made that is not to be taken lightly.

Sort of like confession.  I’ve experienced and heard of good confessions and bad confessions.  Confusing confessions, straightforward confessions, short lived confessions, and the long sought after life changing confessions that come only with opening of the heart.

Name it; claim it; and then tame it is how our Pastor once described sin and some of its ugly components.  For some reason that reminder of sorts has remained inside my brain and helped me so many times in preparing for my own confessions.

Name it………..for any list maker this is easy.  Grab paper and pen and start at the present day and work your way back.  Once the ink starts to flow more paper may be needed.  Whether it is trivial, purely done by accident (right?), only done to even the score, did it before we knew better, or so long ago who cares; a sin is a sin and has a name.  Writing it down is the easy part.

Claim it………this is a little harder.  We don’t get to justify why we did what we did; maybe we did it to fit in but we still did it so we need to claim it.  I don’t think God really cares to hear our excuses as we confess our sins.  Anyways God knows all and I’m sure He has heard all and then some.  We are seeking forgiveness not debating our cause.

Tame it…………this has to be the hardest.  We have been forgiven by a great God of mercy and now promise to work on not repeating those sins we named and claimed.  Seeking His ways and following His commandments helps to keep our sins at bay.   Resolved of sin and filled with the grace of God this now becomes attainable.

Does your old heart need a good jolt?  Soul needs a little dusting off?  Try confession.  Call out to God; He listens; find a cross to kneel in front of; go speak to a Priest.  A true, heartfelt confession is life changing.

It could be the most important thing you’ll ever do for yourself.

I swear by it!