Excuses Will Not Work Here

As a coach, my husband’s number one annoyance is when his players will not own up to their mistakes. Instead of admitting they screwed up, they come to him with excuses, comparisons and whining.

As their coach, he is ready to forgive and help them; all they have to do is confess and take responsibility for their actions. When they choose to not own up to their mistakes, he can’t help them. He isn’t able to help because the player has not realized the root problem. In their mind, they don’t see the problem as their own but as something out of their control; something that happened to them. The player is convinced that there is nothing they need to change, but all that needs changing is the circumstances around them.

When we mess up in life and sin against God, He is waiting for us to confess and bring those sins before Him. He is ready to forgive us. Confessing our sins is not informing God about what we have done. Confessing is so we understand that what we did was wrong and are taking responsibility for hurting God and others.

God desires us to confess so that the root problem, the sin problem, can be exposed, and we can see that we need to change. If we come to God with excuses, we are running and hiding the problem. If we confess, then we understand that we have to do the work to fix the problem while taking comfort that God will forgive us.

Taking ownership of our mistakes is not something that comes naturally to humans. Instead, we desire to run, hide and cover up. Remember that the only way to be free from sin holding you captive is to confess and bring it to the light. God is waiting to forgive and help us; we just need to take that step.