“Give me your hearts… Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate… Joel 2:12-13
Heavenly Father, thank you for “calling us out” without shutting us down. In our moments of gospel-dementia, 3-year-old-childishness, and tone-deafness to the heart-cry of others, you convict us without condemning us. Your grace generates good grief, and your kindness leads us to repentance. Here our confession, and grant us quick and sincere repentances.
- We confess—rather than feasting consistently on your grace and feeding our faith, we squander our hunger on the junk food of fear, resentment, and fantasy. Forgive and free us.
- We confess disobeying you, Father—ignoring your many commands about practicing gratitude and contentment. We own and grieve our heart-habits of envy, comparison, and ingratitude. Forgive and free us.
- We confess hoarding our brokenness and minimizing our weaknesses. Rather than letting friends enter our messes, immaturity, and struggles—we pose, pretend, and play dodgeball with honesty. Forgive and free us.
- We confess letting the embers of our passion for Jesus lose their glow and grow cool… while we keep putting kindling and limbs on the fire of our critical spirit toward others. Forgive and free us.
Have mercy on us, Father, have mercy on me. If you dealt with us according to our sins, we could not stand. If you repaid us for all our transgressions, we would despair forever. Thank you for giving Jesus to us, and for us. He is our forgiveness and righteousness—the reason we repent today with humility and hope. So Very Amen.