The Confession You Never Hear

I've heard a lot of confessions in my life. Shocking confessions. Sobbing confessions. Quiet confessions. You name it. No, I’m not a priest—I just grew up in the evangelical world. After particularly convicting sermons we had altar calls. When leaders stumbled they repented from the church platform.

In a way I’m grateful for this heritage. Confessing sins is biblical, and as the old saying goes, it’s "good for the soul." But looking back I realize that we had selective consciences. We tended to confess only certain types of sins.

Most confessions seemed to involve sexual transgression. I remember a man confessing homosexual behavior. I recall another lamenting unfaithfulness to his wife. At that same church, years after we had left, a teenaged girl was forced up to the front to repent for the sin that had resulted in her pregnancy. I wondered how many of those folding their arms in the audience that morning were guilty of their own less-visible indiscretions.

All this came to mind the other day when a colleague offhandedly asked, "Why do you never hear someone confess the sin of materialism?"

Good question, I thought—especially for Christians who inhabit the wealthiest nation on earth.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting we become desert-dwelling monks. Jesus was not ascetic. He ate and drank and went to parties. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying life’s wholesome pleasures. But how often have we pursued the American dream to the point of sin? How often have we opted to gratify our own desires for more money and possessions while giving little or nothing to the work of the Lord? How many times have we traded intimacy with God for the material enticements of this world?

Do you know what I’d like to see? A full-blown, tear-filled, Jimmy Swaggart-like confession from a Christian leader guilty of squandering resources on lavish living. I think that would be a good sign that we are moving in the right direction.