I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin (Psalm 32:5).

When I was growing up, instant pudding had just hit the market. A little milk, a little powder packet and viola – creamy, silky pudding.

But my mother, an expert cook, was not having any of it. One night she pulled her homemade pudding from the fridge, and there was a thumb-sized hole in the middle of it. “Who did that?” she asked. Like a junior choir, all six kids sang out, “Not me!”

My mother wasn’t having any of that either. She lined up all six kids and said, “Stick out your thumbs.” Then she began to measure each thumb against the pudding dent. It was my brother, Gordon! We knew because the hole demonstrated the dimensions of what would fill it.

Similarly, God wants us to confess our sin, not because he needs it to discover our sin, but because the holes in our holiness indicate the dimensions of grace that will be needed to fill them.

Honest confession reveals to us, more than to God, the transgression that requires his intercession. When we identify the magnitude of our sin, we discover the magnitude of his grace.

As a result, seeking God’s forgiveness yields the fruit of true repentance: confession of how long and wide and high and deep is the love of God that we each need.

Prayer:
Lord, I confess my sins to you, knowing that you forgive and, by forgiving, ignite the love that compels my heart to beat for you. Show me the true dimensions of my sin that I may confess how great are the dimensions of your love that I require.