Devotion
Naming it instead of explaining it
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. - James 5:16 (CSB)”
Jesus asks, "Do you want to get well?" The man answers with a paragraph about why he is still sick. It is a good paragraph. It is all true. It is also not an answer.
Most of us do this. Asked whether we want to be healed, we explain instead. We give the history, the other people involved, the reasons it was never going to work out. Explaining feels like honesty, but it keeps the wound safely general. Naming is different, and naming is what Scripture asks of us.
Practice
Do this today, not next week. Write your wound in one sentence, with no explanation attached and no one else blamed in it. Then tell it to one trusted person, out loud. A spouse, a group member, a pastor. One sentence is enough. You are not asking them to fix it. You are refusing to hide it.
Prayer
God, I am tired of explaining. Here it is, plainly. I bring it into the light where You can heal it, and I ask for one safe person to say it to. Thank You that confession is not condemnation. Amen.
This Week’s Message
This devotion follows along with this week’s message.