Confessions of a Nearsighted Man

“He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

— John 21:17a

I am the master of the confession. I can utter a confession that will acknowledge my part in the scheme and acquit me at the same time. Call it what you will, but I am not alone. Nor is it anything new. We have all honed the skill of confession unto acquittal since childhood, and social media has exacerbated it.

As a child of 10 or 11 years of age, I ran with a ragtag group of ruffians. I was the youngest. My brother was the leader of the gang. We found a caliche pit in which to play. As it was an active pit, there was a dozer and front-end loader in the pit. One day we crawled up into the loader and to our amazement found a collection of “adult” magazines. Needless to say, we returned to explore this discovery several days in a row. Until we got caught.

The operator of the loader didn’t appreciate the significance of our discovery and took offense at the trespass. He drove towards us in his pickup with horn blazing. We quickly scattered and began our assent out of the pit. Unable to catch us, he pulled a gun from the gun rack in the back window of his truck and began firing over our heads. He fully intended to reform our ways for good, not to harm us.

However, rather than reform, we declared war. We returned a couple days later to add to the fuel tank all the sugar we could procure from our homes. Sugar in a diesel tank will certainly clog filters and shut down an engine. It didn’t in this case, but that was not from a lack of effort but rather a lack of supplies. And the fact that they noticed all the sugar around the tank. I’m not proud of this, and I’m even more ashamed with what happened next.

When questioned outside of school by his boss about the episode, I took the lead. I readily confessed to being in the caliche pit with my friends and climbing on the loader. I was guilty and didn’t try to hide it. However, I also spun the tale that we had been shot at and in that telling I felt the bullets were awfully close to hitting home. I didn’t think my dad would appreciate the attempt at our reform. I wasn’t sure where the sugar came from exactly, but perhaps if the operator had spent more time taking care of his equipment and less time looking a his magazines it might help. I confessed and blamed.

However, in retrospect, I didn’t really confess. Confession by definition is “saying the same thing as.” To confess to a crime, you have to admit to doing what the evidence says you actually did. If you don’t say the same thing as the evidence, then you didn’t confess. You might have admitted to doing something, but it is only a confession when what you admit agrees with the evidence.

The same is true in Christianity. To confess means to say the same thing about your sin that God says about it. There is no evading or waffling. It is not about simply admitting guilt. It is about saying the same thing as He does about sin.

Namely, it is acknowledging what you have done. Understanding why it was wrong and the destruction it brings. But it is also acknowledging and thanking God that the sin was in Christ on the cross. It was crucified with Him. Removed from the record. Forgiven! Until we are able to acknowledge all of this, we haven’t confessed.

Peter was confronted with the need for confession face to face with Jesus. After denying him three times, the resurrected Lord confronted Peter (John 21:15-17). Peter, like all of us, could only think of himself and his failure in the moment. He, like all of us, was nearsighted. Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love me?” He didn’t ask him what he did, how he felt about it, was he remorseful or did he understand the ramifications. He simply asked him, “Do you love me?”

Jesus was asking Peter for a full confession! A confession that agreed with the facts. Facts that not only included his betrayal but ended in His embrace. He was asking for a confession of love.

If we understand what true confession is meant to be, we will always end up in the arms of Christ. It doesn’t end in guilt and remorse (although those are mile markers on the road). It ends in forgiveness, grace and love. Never cut your confession short. Follow it into the arms of Christ.

There is much I have done in my life I wish I could take back. However, life doesn’t work that way. I’m left with a very simple choice: carry it the rest of my life with guilt and shame, or carry it to my Savior and lay it down at His feet. True confession always leads to God’s grace.

Anything else is just the confession of a nearsighted man who can’t see beyond himself. One who can’t let go of his own importance. One who trusts his own judgment over that of His Creator’s. 

What is it that you need to confess today? I don’t mean admit to doing, because He already knows. I mean confess — say the same thing about it that God does. To bring it to Him; acknowledge what was done, take responsibility, lay it at His feet, understand it was in Him on the cross, it was forgiven, and rest in His grace. You haven’t said the same thing as God until you realize all of it. You haven’t confessed until you rest in His grace!

© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.