Confession Is Good For The Soul

January 21st:

Here’s the headline that caught my eye this morning:
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted Thursday he fathered a child during an affair before his second White House bid, dropping long-standing denials…

Was anyone really surprised? Most of us read all of the details of this story months ago while we were standing in the checkout line at the local grocery store. Some of us were convinced at that time that the story was true. Some of us were assuming (or hoping) that what we were reading would be better grouped with the stories about alien abductions.

I was one of those people who was hoping all the stories were just rumors. Infidelity (marital disloyalty) is sad enough but when you add in a wife fighting cancer, grown (and not so grown) children, another woman and a baby named Quinn it becomes contemptible. I wasn’t being naïve about the possibility. I’ve seen it all before. I was just hoping.

I am always fascinated with the popular assumption (even held by many believers in God) that as long as no one has a picture and there is no “money trail” that somehow we have gotten away with something.

The truth is that we have a tendency to act as if our God is both blind and deaf or that He sees and hears but doesn’t care. I choose to believe that neither of these propositions is true. In fact, one of the great promises of the Christian faith is that our God knows all about us (even our secrets) and He loves us anyway. He is not blind to our infidelities (our lack of faith) and he is not deaf to our disloyalty. He simply sees within us the possibility that (with His help) we can be better than we ever dreamed.

Let’s face it, we all mess it up from time to time. We all make bad choices. We all speak without thinking. We all find ourselves in situations where we are willing to sacrifice other people’s best interests for our own self-interests. We live broken lives. What we need to recognize is that we’ve already been caught.

The really good news is that Jesus came to heal this broken world and all of its broken people. It’s a healing that begins when we are willing to trust Him to transform our lives. This journey to new life begins when we admit that we need what only He can provide. We call it “confession.”

The fact that John Edwards has finally gotten to that point where he is willing to admit to his failure (for whatever reasons) could be a good sign. Knowing you’ve been caught is the hardest part. Let’s hope and pray that the rest of his journey can bring some healing to all of those involved.