Confession makes us sad for a time, but the joy comes when we are freed from the bondage of it through disclosure. Anyone who has repented and confessed openly, will tell us that they were unburdened and made free by the accountability and the release from sin.
Those who will not confess are in their bondage, continually confined in their soul, by that which has not been confessed. We see this in the countenance and demeanor evidenced by phoniness.
We cannot become repentant, turning from sin, until we have grieved over it.
Nor can we stop from our sin unless we admit it and confess it. Those who refuse to confess their sin, are full of pride and can not grow spiritually.
Often those who will not admit sin will explode in anger when confronted, because their soul has not been released from the chains. They fight and argue to maintain their appearance of righteousness, even though in the fighting they reveal themselves.
Perhaps one of the reasons we see so many believers not moving past infancy is because they will not call themselves what they are and identify their own sin clearly and specifically. The thorns mentioned in verse six are an indication of a fire that burns hot, fast and then gone quickly, providing little effect.
I have made many brush fires around our country property. We have to battle blackberry thorn bushes continually. When we have a pile of them, they flash and are gone quickly, providing heat only for a short time, until they are gone. They are of little value in producing warmth, they do not last.
Emotionalism will not carry a believer to growth, but will detract from it. When our focus is on how we feel, we cannot see Christ, we cannot see our own sin and we cannot see lasting effects.
The only cure for a burdened soul, is not to hide better, but to expose ourselves, openly admit our shame and go on to freedom from our sin.
Ecclesiastes 7:1-6
7 A good name is better than precious ointment,
And the day of death than the day of one’s birth;
2 Better to go to the house of mourning
Than to go to the house of feasting,
For that is the end of all men;
And the living will take it to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
6 For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,
So is the laughter of the fool.
This also is vanity.
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