Confession | Forgiveness | Mercy | Pride | Repentance

TRUE CONFESSION
Confession is different from spilling the beans to the public. Celebrities are not confessing when they hire writers to tell a prurient public their boring stories of sexual trysts; they are not after forgiveness, they are after publicity with royalties attached. Nor do you and I confess when we tell all to an understanding psychiatrist; we don’t want forgiveness, we want to feel good. We confess when we cannot stand the hurt we caused another. We confess when we put ourselves in the hands of the person we wronged and trust him or her with our souls. We confess when, naked in the eyes of the person we unfairly wounded, we plead nothing but the hope of grace.” Louis Smedes, “Forgiving People Who Do Not Care.”