The Bible says, ‘If you hide your sins, you will not succeed. If you confess and reject them, you will receive mercy.’ The ability to accept responsibility is a sign of character and maturity. More importantly, God can’t restore us until we acknowledge and turn away from our sin. Nowhere in Scripture does God excuse our sin because of someone else’s behaviour. The Bible says He will ‘repay all people as their actions deserve’ (Proverbs 24:12 NLT). If we constantly blame other people for the way we’ve acted or the things we’ve done, we’ll never reach a place of honest responsibility – and that’s where real change begins. Blaming others doesn’t change things. When we blame someone else, all it really achieves is to make others feel guilty and take the spotlight off us for a while. We might blame others in order to avoid facing the truth about ourselves. But Jesus said that ‘the truth will set you free’ (John 8:32 NIV). Taking responsibility by admitting we’re wrong or at fault can be very uncomfortable at first, but it’s something we need to do if we want to experience real freedom. We don’t need to confess to other people, although there are times when it’s helpful admit our wrongdoing to someone we trust, if it’s appropriate. But we must confess to God. Hiding from our mistakes doesn’t make them go away, and in fact, until we’re willing to face them, we’ll keep having problems. That’s not how God designed us to live. So we need to be honest with God, and let Him help us correct the things in our lives that are out of order.

What Now?

Is there a mistake or unconfessed sin that you need to take responsibility for? Set aside some time today to tell God about it, and take the first step in the process to freedom from that sin.