As Thomas Watson so aptly worded it in his book, The Doctrine of Repentance, “confession must acknowledge the source.” The source of all our sin is, of course, our own sinful nature. To embrace this truth even more, it’s often helpful to consider that Jesus Christ would not sin in the situations where we sin, so it’s not because of the circumstances, but because of our wicked nature.
So we can either confess: ”I tend to be selfish sometimes” vs. “I am a selfish person by nature. My being is polluted with sin and thus I desperately need grace and mercy.” Admitting this prevents you having “buts” in your confession—“I’m so sorry I got angry, BUT you really provoked me.” vs. “I’m so sorry I got angry with you, I am an angry person and beg for your forgiveness and prayer.” The person who is not willing to admit that is a fake repenter and will not see change. This mindset also makes sure we go beyond the generic “I apologize” confession and into self-indicting language—”I’m guilty because I’m a wicked person and no buts about it. Please forgive me!”
In light of that undeniable truth, why are we so hesitant to do this?—There’s only one reason: We just aren’t convinced our hearts are as evil as the Bible says. But think about this: God already knows the magnitude of wickedness resident within us, far more than we do, so there’s no risk in confessing, but only in attempting to hide our sin from God and pretending it’s not there. On the pathway to repentance, we need to make sure our confession acknowledges the source.