Should I go to Confession this week? I see Father is sitting in the confessional and the line isn't that long . . . but I just went last month. How bad have I been? Did I really intend to commit those sins I know were wrong? I mean, it was the heat of the moment and Jesus loves me. His love is bigger than those sins! It really wasn't that big a deal, I can go to Confession next week . . . maybe.

It's extremely easy to think myself out of the seriousness and gravity of my own sins. Easy to explain them away, excuse myself, blame other people or circumstance, and even use Jesus' welcome supply of mercy and love to downplay my need for acknowledging my own actions and the state of my own heart.

It's easy to explain away and ignore our own sin. We can do it for a long time, but sooner or later the wages of ignoring our sin, the burdens of guilt and shame will catch up to our hearts and enslave us.

Make no mistake, we may think we are not choosing to be slaves to our sin when we explain away the little things we do, convincing ourselves they don't matter to God, but what we're really doing is choosing sin as our master. We're choosing to give sin the upper hand in our lives. We're choosing space and distance from God.

We're rejecting the true freedom of Jesus, rejecting His forgiveness and mercy.

The treasure Jesus has left us with to take care of is His very life within our souls. If we fail to keep watch on our own hearts, we will be letting sin and its master destroy the home Christ has made within us.

[bctt tweet="We're choosing space and distance from God. // @christyisinger" username="blessedisshe__"]

If you're feeling uncomfortable about going to Confession or it's been a long while, take a peek at our guide to Confession on the BiS blog.

Christy Isinger is a wife and mom to five lovely, loud children and lives in northern Canada. When not homeschooling, she is a devoted reader of English literature from Jane Austen to Agatha Christie. She writes about the beauty of faith, life, and the home at her blog and is the co-host of the Fountains of Carrots Podcast. She is the author of our Blessed Conversations: The Ten Commandments study found here and a contributing author to our Advent devotional book, All the Generations. You can find out more about her here.