Sins vs Symptoms

The brother of Jesus instructs and encourages us saying, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective" (Js 5:16).

The instruction is to confess our sins and pray for each other.  The encouragement is that we will be healed and that we, sinners, are therefore righteous.  Not righteous because we have walked sinlessly but because we have sought the healing of the Sinless One: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn 1:9).

The power we find in confession is indeed great and the ensuing cleansing is amazing.  It is moving to hear someone confess, seeking the healing of the Lord.  But when we witness a Christian, confessing from their heart something they have done, they are rarely revealing a sin, but only a symptom.

I'm not suggesting that the individual is not sincere or that God is not touched by the outpouring of the disciple's heart.  What I am saying is that I wonder if that child of God received healing from a sin for which there was not full awareness.  I am not judging, just wondering.

Let me explain.  If one were to confess taking an extra piece of pie, knowing that each person was only to take one - what was confessed?  In that confession, what would be exposed to be healed?  Nothing!  A symptom was revealed and that could be treated by paying for the extra piece or replacing it.  But, the sin that was only hinted at may continue unabated.

Think with me: Was the piece taken because the individual as greedy?  Was it gluttony?  Was it a faith issue, not trusting God to provide later?  Beneath the obvious symptom, what was the brokenness needing mending so that healing could occur?

If one has headaches, that is not his/her illness - that is the symptom.  Treating the headaches brings some temporary relief but the sickness, the tumor or the ruptured blood vessel or the infection continues to work beneath the surface.  The headaches will return and, in time, death may occur because only the symptom was relieved while the sickness remained.

This is the value of not just confessing, but of confessing "one to another."  If we just own up to what we did, that is good but not particularly healing.  If we confess in a relational way, where we can talk about what is going on, where the struggle is coming from and why it has such a hold on us - then we can begin to focus and pray for the deeper need, the foundation upon which the symptom arises.  Then, healing can happen as we lay this inner, unseen struggle before the Great Physician.  Jus' Say'n.