We are continuing to learn about the seriousness of our sin and the need to confess and forsake it. We are growing to hide it less and to deal with it more often, more quickly, and more thoroughly because we are tasting the glad fruit of fellowship.

We are not more prone to sin because grace abounds. We are not more indifferent to sin because we get frequent reminders of God’s forgiveness in the gospel. As we grow closer to God, as our love for Him warms, we are both less likely to sin and less interested in running away from the conviction when we do sin. Both steps of sanctification run on the path of fellowship. The union we have with Him draws us closer to Him and causes us to miss Him when we disobey.

A husband who blows up at his wife ought to feel like a heel and seek to make it right. A husband who blows up at his wife and doesn’t care about the relational rift is in great danger. It isn’t merely his anger that is the problem, though he should confess that sin. It’s what his anger does: it breaks fellowship. The disconnect between persons is worse than the rise in his blood pressure. If he is happy being isolated from his wife then he doesn’t know what a husband is for.

As Christians we don’t confess because we want heaven’s books to be accurate. We confess because that’s what God told us to do in order to get back what we walked away from.