Confess your sins to each other… But who might that be?

My clinical psychologist friend Dr. Mike Campion says one of his favorite Bible verses is James 5:16:

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Mike says if we are transparent with others, and sadly many never are (for lots of reasons), a freedom can result that few will ever experience. And to me that always begs the questions, “How deeply do I want to be known to others? How deeply do I want to be known to myself?”

I’ve met people who have come clean with God about their sin and yet wondered why they were still so afraid to trust anyone else to know. One guy actually told me, “I don’t trust anyone that much.”

Well, let’s face the facts… 

* Besides the fact of feeling debilitating fear and shame, one person said to me, “I have no one to tell.” 
But if you’re dealing honestly with yourself, is that completely true?
* It may seem that no one else struggles or that that no one would understand. Or perhaps we are afraid of judgment or even the loss of relationship. Frankly, that is scary — let’s be honest.

* But is the voice that says we have no one to tell speaking to us out of fear? What if you push right toward that fear? What if the knives of fear are just butter and you go right through them? What if, as I Peter says, you actually are eager to do good by confessing? (I Peter 3:13) Isn’t confession a good thing and even if consequences occur, doesn’t God always reward the good?

Here’s a challenge, albeit one that will take some courage: Ask God to break you of your fear so that you can begin to see clearly the opportunity to speak the truth to someone, perhaps someone who may be standing right in front of you.