In Scripture, the Lord reminds us of our sins and our need to confess our sins again, and again, and again, and again. Confession of sin is serious business. Confession of sin is one of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer! However, oftentimes our confession of sin is tepid.

But why is our confession of sin lukewarm? Well, I think our confession of sin is wimpy and lax because our view of sin oftentimes is wimpy and lax. Rather than viewing sin as an ethical disease that plagues mankind and offends mankind’s Creator, I believe that we oftentimes think of sins as though they were dust bunnies — a mere eyesore inconvenience that one can shoo away with some prepackaged “canned air” confession. (We don’t confess, “Lord, yeah yeah yeah, sorry.” Instead, we confesss, “Lord, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” Can you sense the difference? The former is breezy while the latter is penitent.)

But sins are not dust bunnies. Sins are serious business. So serious that Christ’s sacrificial death was the only means by which our sins could be dealt with. All of us need to confess our sins in light of that reality. And if we did, we would stop treating sin like dust bunnies — we would leave our tepid confessions in the dust.