Step 5 -- Exact Nature Of My Wrongs

All of us struggle with our conscience, trying to make peace within our own heart. We may deny what we have done, find excuses or try to squirm out from beneath the full weight of our conduct. We may work hard to be “good,” trying to counteract our wrongs.  In order to truly put the past to rest, we must simply stop rationalizing our past behaviours, admit the error of our ways, acknowledge the hurt we’ve caused, and turn around to a new way of life – the life of right believing and right behaviours that God shows us.

God’s word says:  “in their hearts they know right from wrong. They demonstrate that God’s law is written within them, for their own consciences either accuse them or tell them they are doing what is right” (Romans 2:14, 15).

The confessing part of Step Five is our admission that wrong is wrong. It’s time to agree with God and own our conscience about the exact nature of our wrongs. We are like people who have been accused of crimes which they actually committed. We may have spent years constructing alibis, coming up with excuses, and trying to plea bargain. It’s time to come clean and admit what we know deep down inside to be true: “I’m guilty as charged.”  There is no real freedom without confession and repentance.

It is human nature to want to cover our shameful deeds and to hide from God, but we can’t.  God sees the damage of sinful choices and hates the destructive impact on people He deeply loves.  When we finally face the reality of our sinning, it is helpful to recall God’s kind and merciful nature.  No sin is too great to be forgiven. Jesus paid the price for our forgiveness with his death on the cross.  We do not have to earn forgiveness but we do have to acknowledge our need for it and receive it.  The Bible tells us that “if we confess our sins to Him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from every wrong” (1 John 1:9). 

What a relief it is to finally give up the weight of our lies and excuses. When we choose to repent and live in truth we will find the internal peace that we lost so long ago. God promises to flood us with forgiveness. He says: “I – yes, I alone - am the one who blots out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again” (Isaiah 43:25).  We may feel that we have done such horrible things or hurt people so badly that there is no way our sins could be entirely blotted out. The Bible assures us that God “does not deal with us as we deserve” (Psalm 103:19). God promises us: “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool” (Isaiah 1:8). The foundation of the recovery process is accepting complete forgiveness from God. In God’s eyes we are clean as we admit the error of our ways, acknowledge our need of His saving grace and surrender our lives to the healing work of Jesus.