The Scent of Confession

District Diaries April 2025 Edition
by Marvin Penner

 My wife and I were going to meet my brother and his wife at the bakery in Ladysmith. We were not sure where the bakery was. When we got out of the car, we only had to follow our nose to the location. We caught the scent of the baked goods from a distance. In a similar way we read that faith becomes known in what we do (James 2:18). I wonder, do others notice the scent of faith in my life?
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Psalm 51, the confession prayer, can show us the path towards a fragrant life. The first 9 verses are what you and I would probably consider a standard prayer of confession. According to God in this Psalm a proper confession is only half finished at the end of verse 9. True confession has follow through. The prayer is not complete when the sin has been unloaded. Verses 10 – 12 mentions three things that God does in the prayer. God recreates, renews and restores. Once we have confessed our sin to God we then in humility receive this new life. Verses 13 – 16 leads the prayer into Christian service through teaching and evangelism and brings the confessing individual into praise and worship before the prayer of confession is fully formed. By this point in the prayer the scent or fruit of confession is beginning to spill out of the prayer closet, but the prayer is not yet finished. In the last three verses, sacrifice enters the prayer. There is a strange tension between, “You do not delight in sacrifice” and “then you will delight in the sacrifice”. What lies between these phrases is critical to a fully formed confession. A proper confession bears the fruit of a broken spirit and a contrite heart. This is not a momentary condition that exists only during the confession. This is what is built into the confessor through God’s renewing power. It matures when we teach and bear witness. The final development of the heart matures when praises escape out of the lips and spill out into the world. Then, and only then, when our confession reaches maturity, the sacrificial actions and words of our contrite hearts become a pleasing aroma. The scent of confession will be noticed on the street leading others to find their way to God's house.