Do I have to confess my lustful thoughts to the person I lusted after? I’m dealing with the sin of lust (and the commonly related sinful behavior linked to it). I know I need to repent of this, ask God for forgiveness, and cut it out of my life. But there are times I doubt if that is enough. Do I need to tell people about the things I’ve done even if it hasn’t directly affected them if at all?<\/p>\n\t
The purpose of confession is to face the fact that we sinned — that we are not going to hide from that fact. Unacknowledged sin destroys us internally. “When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.<\/em>” (Psalms 32:3-5). Confession is made to the ones we harmed by our sins. Since all sins are against God, the first and most important confession we need to make is to Him (I John 1:5-10).<\/p>\n Often the one in sin realizes how badly his sin affected his relationship with God and so he desires the support of his fellow Christians in approaching God. “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much<\/em>” (James 5:16).<\/p>\n When our sins harm another person, we attempt to correct the problem as a part of our repentance (II Corinthians 7:11). However, in this case, your sin has been harming yourself. Other people have not been involved. Telling someone that he or she has been the focus of your lust would cause embarrassment and harm your normal relationship as friends or coworkers.<\/p>\n Therefore, this is a matter to fix within yourself. Confess your sins to God and correct how you see other people. Don’t cause additional harm just because you feel guilt and feel you need to be punished.<\/p>\n\t Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Do I have to confess my lustful thoughts to the person I lusted after? I’m dealing with the sin of lust (and the commonly related sinful behavior linked to it). I know I need to repent of this, ask God for forgiveness, and cut it out of my life. But there are times I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[51,156],"class_list":["post-60048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-confession","tag-lust"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39825,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-confess-my-use-of-pornography-to-my-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":60048,"position":0},"title":"Do I need to confess my use of pornography to my preacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God bless. I have been a Christian for many years, but I was addicted to porn and I committed fornication against myself (my body). I never had sex with anybody, just myself. I have repented from that sin, and I recognize my sin, so do I need to confess\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61850,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-need-to-confess-our-sinfulness-every-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":60048,"position":1},"title":"Do we need to confess our sinfulness every day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I grew up Catholic but have turned away from it and am finally learning how to\/what it means to 'walk with the\u00a0Lord\". Is it correct to confess our sinfulness every day or necessary to do so before prayer? Do we confess to Jesus or Father God? How do we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33638,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-necessary-to-confess-to-a-preacher-or-elder\/","url_meta":{"origin":60048,"position":2},"title":"Is it necessary to confess to a preacher or elder?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When a person has sinned, in particular sexually immoral sins, do they repent only to God?\u00a0 Is it necessary to repent to a person, such as a preacher or an elder? Answer: The purpose of confession is to face the fact that we sinned -- that we are not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-have-to-confess-our-fornication-that-was-repented-of-before-our-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":60048,"position":3},"title":"Do we have to confess our fornication that was repented of before our marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My boyfriend and I committed sexual immorality. We have repented and not done it again. We are planning on getting married, but do I have to confess my sins to my pastor and my parents before we get married? Answer: The purpose of confession is to face the fact\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18102,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-need-to-redo-our-confession-before-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":60048,"position":4},"title":"Do we need to redo our confession before the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Preacher, I must thank you for the wonderful work you are doing to help the churches of Christ. I have an issue that I would like you to help me with. I fornicated with a lady in church, and she is pregnant. We spoke to church elders about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36075,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-confess-my-every-lust-to-my-spouse\/","url_meta":{"origin":60048,"position":5},"title":"Do I need to confess my every lust to my spouse?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I first wanted to say thank you for posting these articles and questions\/answers. They are very encouraging and I am thankful for your commitment to scripture. I am a baptized Christian man in my mid-20s. My wife (also a baptized Christian) and I have been married for several\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n