to lose myself in His embrace
at last, behold His glory

Discipleship Group (DG) in Campus Crusade was to me, an apprehensive decision initially. Discipleship material seemed all too familiar, maybe even passe. But Session 2 today shamed me though. Christianity is always progressive, and my complacency almost paid the price of an invaluable truth - the truth or confession and apology.

Prior to this, I established what an apology was:
1. Its not saying sorry, it's feeling sorry.
2. Its not explaining your actions, its admitting your mistake.
3. When you explain yourself, you're not asking for an apology, you're asking for an understanding.

Then came Bro. L.T Jeyachandran (Ravi Zacharias International Ministry) who, on his first lecture on Apologetics in Tung Ling, asked what an "Apology" was. While I was about to put forth my $2 worth, he revealed that "Apologia" in Greek meant "Defence" - where one explains his action. That was exactly the definition I avoided, but I remained silent.

Anyway, that was about 8 months ago? So today I found my answers during DG Session today.

1 John 1:9
"If we apologize for our sins, He is faithful and just and forgive us our sins and purify our unrighteousness."

No, you know that's not what the Bible says.
Let's try again.

1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and forgive us our sins and purify our unrighteousness."

Confession, in Greek, means to "agree with", in contrast with Apologize, which means "defend". I guess what I thought an apology was, was really confession instead. And that is what God asked of us too. God didn't want us to explain ourselves, He wanted us to know our mistakes, and learn from them. On top of that, meanwhile, we are to know that He would be by us because He knows our weaknesses.

The next time we are to "apologize", think Confession instead.