Have you ever done something you know was wrong and told yourself I am never doing that again, only to find yourself right back in the same kind of behavior sometime later. Well, I have, and this type of living can be very frustrating and dangerous. This is what is called living a life of confession, and your life will spiral out of control if you live this kind of life. Let me give you an example from my life. When I was in college I would go out with my basketball teammates after a game. We would go buy some alcohol and get drunk. I would then come back to my room and bow to the porcelain goddess and ask the Lord to make this feeling go away and I promised him I would never do it again. Only to find myself right back in the same situation a couple of weeks later. So, you can see I was living a life of confession. I was turning to my sin and saying I would not do it again, but found myself right back in the same behavior sometime later.

Now living a life of repentance is totally different, because living a life of repentance is all about turning toward God and it is not about turning toward your sin. By living a life of repenance you are giving control of your sinful life to God and letting him have total control. If you do this God will give you a new heart and new desires. God will then take the sinful and bad behavior and turn it into something beautiful.

Now, let me give you an example from the Bible. In the book of 1 Samuel chapter 24, we find, Saul the first King of Israel, who has made some mistakes while king, and God has now already told the prophet Samuel to anoint David as King of Israel. Saul has found out about the anointing and has been trying to kill David for years. David has been on the run and is hiding in caves to keep Saul from killing him. One day Saul goes into the cave where David and his men are hiding to relieve himself. David’s men try to get him to kill Saul, but he would not. But David cut off a piece of his robe. After Saul left the cave David showed himself to Saul and that he could have killed him. Saul confessed that David was more righteous than he was and admitted David would be King one day and stopped pursing David. But, David was also moved to repent to God for cutting the robe of the king and repented from touching the one anointed by God who was King of Israel, and vowed he would never touch him again.

But, in 2 Samuel chapter 26, we find Saul pursuing David again in order to kill him, so you can see Saul is right back into the same behavior he confessed. Again, God gave David another opportunity to kill King Saul. While Saul and his army were sleeping David and his top general went into the camp and was standing over Saul and could have killed him. David’s General asked him if he would not kill the king then let him do it. But, David was true to his repentance and said he would not touch the Lord’s anointed King.

What does all this mean? Well, as you can see Saul only confessed his sin of trying to kill David and knew it was wrong, even told David he was more righteous than he was. But when you only confess your sin you are not turning toward God you are turning toward man and earthly desires. David on the other hand repented from his sin of touching the anointed king and God gave him the wisdom and understanding he needed when faced with the same temptation again.

So, what in your life are you just confessing? What in your life do you need to repent? Give those over to God, turn to Him and let Him give you a new heart and new desires. He will take the mess and turn it into something new and wonderful. Try Jesus and see He will never disappoint you or let you down. But you need to repent and not just confess those things that are keeping you from Him.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me to not just confess my sins and wrongs to you. But help me to live a life of repentance always turning to you and giving you everything in my life. Amen.