In church on Sunday, we spent a long time confessing our sins. It wasn’t the usual liturgy, words that I sometimes recite out of rote memory. Our confession of sins was a song led by our worship band with readings by our pastor interspersed throughout.

Advent has long been the season for repentance, which is not a fun thing to do. It’s uncomfortable, horrifying really, to sit and meditate on all the ways I’ve messed up, fallen short, hurt others, offended my God…especially when it’s the same sins I confess over and over again, week after week.

But confession puts me in my place. It makes me realize just how much I have failed. Confession makes me realize my need, a need my pride doesn’t want to admit I have.

When I realize how horribly I’ve fallen short, I know that something else, someone else, has to save me. When I sit with my sins I realize just how much I need Jesus.

When I was a child, this whole “Advent is the season for repentance” thing really seemed weird in the middle of the joyful Christmas season. What a dreary thing to do surrounded by the joys of December! But the older I get, the more I realize that there’s no better way to prepare for Jesus than to know how much you need Him.

“Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.”

“God is Light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not with us. If anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Fiather – Jesus Christ the Righteous One. his is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.”

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. You are forgiven.”

After this season of confession and repentance, this season of need, there’s no bigger joy than to see your Savior.

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”