Lesson 391: "Open Up"
To be open in Scripture usually means confession. We all sin (Rom. 3:23) and we all need to confess our sins to God who is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins (1 John 1:9). To confess and to be forgiven also includes repentance. “Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19) so this tells me that to open up to God in repentance, asking for forgiveness brings us into a closer relationship with God. John writes his little book to keep us from sinning, but IF we do then he assures us we have one who speaks in our defense, Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1). To open up to God in prayer is to communicate with Him which goes back to Adam when God walked in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8) to commune with man, who He intended to open up to Him and not Satan (just a reminder of what will happen to us if we “open up” to the wrong one). Later God established a place to commune with man, which was between the cherubim, above the Ark of the Testimony (Ex. 25:22).
Are we to open up and confess to God only? Should we not be confessing our sins to other Christians as taught in James 5:16? We should open up to others in order to love them (1 John 3:11), in order to be a burden bearer for others (Rom, 12:10, 15:7) and in order to be encouraging (1 Thess 5:11, Heb. 10:24, Eph 4:25). Those who confess their sins find mercy from God (Pro. 28:13) so would it make sense that if we confess our sin against another human that he would grant us mercy? “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). Openness means to share the gospel (Acts 1:8), teach (Col. 3:16-17), and unite (Col. 2:2). This to me does not mean to continuously stand and confess every sin you can remember from the time you were born (because if they were forgiven then God has forgotten them and so should you). However, when you know that you have done something offensive against another and God then confess immediately to God and if He tells you to go to the person in private, do this (Matt. 18:15). Sometimes God will tell us to go only to the person we have offended and confess and at other times He will lead you to a public confession.
This was a long story just to say that in confession, teaching, love and whatever we do, Jesus said to not be a Pharisee (Matt. Chapter 23) and whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:17).