“Thou art the man!” were the words of the Prophet Nathan, as his finger of condemnation was pointed directly at King David sitting before him. Previous to this confrontation, the king had sinned grossly with Bathsheba, and he had had her husband, Uriah, slain in battle so that he could take her as his very own wife. And as God’s messenger was sent to David in an attempt to bring him to repentance, the king realized the awfulness of his transgressions, and was truly repentant. In outward contrition, he donned the apparel of the penitent and sat upon the floor weeping and beseeching God for mercy and pardon. And God heard and cleansed and forgave!
As a result of this lapse in his life, King David, in writing the fifty-first Psalm, wrote: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalms 51:2). And to reinforce this petition, he added: “. .. wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalms 51:7b). In a spiritual sense, repentance and confession have always been synonymous with washing and cleansing. As we acknowledge our sins and failures and shortcomings to God and to each other, we are bathed in the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy. He washes and cleanses us from our guilt.
But I would suspect that too many professing Christians are like the adolescent boy who has no interest in taking a bath, and when forced to do so, misses a good bit of the dirt in his indifference. His “half-bath” certainly is not a job well done. Perhaps we too take a “half-bath” attitude in the matter of the confession of our sins. “That’s such a small thing,” we say. “Certainly God wouldn’t expect me to confess that, would He?” “Yes! A very definite yes!” the Lord replies. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, and if we fail to acknowledge and forsake all the known sin in our lives, we’re guilty of “half-bath” confession. God never promises release from the guilt of condemnation if we decide in our minds which sins we want “washed away”, and which ones we choose to conceal. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; (but) whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy,” Proverbs 28:13 says.
You may decide on a “half-bath” in the matter of the confession of sin, but be rest assured that if you do, you’ll smell! Only a full and complete bath will avert the stench in God’s nostrils!
