DAILY DEVOTIONAL
June 22 — Confession, the small door
A spoken reading of this is being recorded — it will appear here soon.
June 22 — Confession, the Small Door
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." — 1 John 1:9 (KJV)
John's sentence is short and almost shocking. The condition is named in three words: if we confess. The promise that follows is not three words. It is wider than the condition. Forgiveness. Cleansing. From all unrighteousness.
Confession is the small door we keep avoiding because we think it leads somewhere dark. It leads somewhere clean. Every Christian who has practiced it for any length of time knows this; every Christian who has not practiced it for a while has forgotten.
We have an unusual difficulty with confession in 2026. Most of the systems we live inside are built to keep us in a state of slight self-promotion. The feed prefers the highlight. The bio prefers the win. The presentation of self has become almost involuntary. Confession reverses the polarity. It says, here is the actual truth about me, in front of God who already knew, and now I will tell it.
The Lord does not need our confession to know what we have done. He invites it for our sake, because saying the thing out loud — to Him, sometimes to a trusted person — is what unsticks us. The sentence does not need to be elaborate. Lord, I was unkind to my child yesterday. That is a complete confession.
Today, name one specific thing, by hour and to whom, that needs saying. Say it once to God. Then receive His forgiveness without arguing with it.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." — Psalm 51:10 (KJV)
May the Lord bless you and keep you.