"There is a huge difference between telling God that you are sorry for something that you have done, and true confession with a repentant heart. Saying, 'Sorry, God,' becomes our quick way to get back into His good graces, or at least that is what we tend to think, then do. If we feel that response hasn't gotten us very far with God, we will usually put a 'please forgive me' with it.
Don't get me wrong. Telling God that you are sorry and asking for His forgiveness is not wrong at all. As a matter of fact, we should tell God we are sorry and thank Him for forgiving us. But if that is as far as we go, then our response is not a confession to God at all. A confession to God is agreeing with God on these two thing--that you know that you are wrong because you are seeing your sin from His perspective, and that you do not want to repeat the offense. God wants our confession to lead to something other than the repeated performance of, 'I'm sorry, and please forgive me.' He desires that our truly contrite confession will to to our future obedience.
Obedience to our Holy God is critical on our journey toward a heart that is no longer divided by its wrong priorities, sin, and idols. Our obedience is the one thing that sets us apart from the world in how we handle life's situations and choices. Obedience is the ongoing, outward sign of an inner transformation."
(Quoted from Chapter 8, "Fully Following God's Commands" in Cheryl Gnagey's book, Spiritual Healing: The Surrender That Brings Victory. Her book is available at www.cherylgnagey.com or www.cherylgnagey.blogspot.com)
When was the last time you found yourself on your knees, confessing your sin with a contrite heart and humility that weeps over your error, and God's displeasure of it? Have you become desensitized to true contrition? Would you much rather gloss over your sin with an insincere apology to Almighty God?
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