“Those who hide their sins won’t succeed, but those who confess and give them up will receive mercy” (Proverbs 28:13 CEB).

Moving her dresser away from the bedroom wall, I discovered what looked like a hidden treasure, hundreds of small bits of gold and silver that shimmered in the sunlight… unfortunately, these shiny nuggets turned out to be nothing more than crumpled up pieces of foil.

Audrey, our oldest child, who was about eight years old at the time, had been sneaking sweets for months. The crevice between her dresser and the wall seemed like the perfect place to hide the evidence of her thievery, but eventually everything is brought into the light— even discarded Hershey’s Kisses wrappers.

Since then, Audrey (who gave me permission to share this story, by the way) has learned that the truth is always best. The sooner she tells her parents the truth, no matter how messy, the sooner she can receive forgiveness, rebuild trust with us, and heal.

Of course, as we get older, we get better at concealing our transgressions. The longer our sins stay hidden away, the more easily we convince ourselves they’re harmless. We might even manage to reach the twisted conclusion that our covert crimes aren’t really sins at all.

“If we claim, ““We don’t have any sin,”” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong.” (1 John 1:8-9 CEB).

Let us take comfort in the knowledge that Jesus is faithful— we don’t have to be anxious about how Jesus will respond to our confession. We can be confident that he will be gracious!

Jesus is also just— he bore the punishment of our sins on the cross. The debt of our transgressions has been paid in full. Sin only has a claim on our lives if we follow it into the darkness. It’s power is instantly vanquished in the light of God’s truth and love.

Dear friend, even now, the Holy Spirit may be encouraging you to bring that secret sin into the light. Will you find a trusted sister or brother in Christ and humbly confess your sin today?

Heavenly Father, we want to live unencumbered by the weight of sin. We want to be a people who practice sincere confession, trusting in the faithfulness of your Son, Jesus. Thank you for sending him into the world to satisfy justice with his sacrifice. Help us to live in a manner that points to the power of the resurrection, for the sake of your glory. Amen.