Anyone need a placemat?

My grandmother is crazy. I say this alot, mostly because it's true. Everytime you go over to her house you always leave with an armful of something which you usually don't need or want. It doesn't matter if you just stop by to say Hi or if you're there for a long time, you will always leave with more than you came with. I say this because even though my grandmother is pretty nuts, sometimes you will wind up with something that is useful. Case in point: I now have my very own copy of the Book of Concord. Normally at least 30 dollars, but in my case, completely free, it also came with some free placemats. We don't know where she gets all this stuff, but Lord knows it comes.

Anyway, Last night I was reading in my Book of Concord for my devotions and I was reading about Confession. I kind of just opened the book and it landed on the large catechism portion of the book. I thought, Hm, well, I don't know how much I'll get out of this but I'll definitely still read it (especially because it was only 3 pages and it was already past midnight by that point) So I read it and it was just a little unexpected blessing to my evening. It really was just a huge reminder of the Grace of God that he so freely gives to us despite our sinfulness. Luther especially made emphasis on the importance of confession. And especially the fact that confession is not a time to show off or make it to seem like forgiveness is something we can attain by our own doings when we finally do confess our sins. No, it is not a work that we can perform, all we can do is "lament our sins and desire comfort and restoration for our souls." God does the actual work and all we do is simply accept and receive something from God. Then we can have the restored heart and conscience. How amazing is it that we can confess our sins before God and He has promised to grant us forgiveness continually? We should place great importance on confession and forgiveness. Luther compares it to a miserable beggar who hears that a rich gift of money and clothes is to be given out somewhere, Wouldn't he run there as fast as he can so he can get his share of the blessing? Shouldn't we be the same way? I pray that all of you can take comfort in the knowledge we have of the power of confession and more importantly, the unending power of God's forgiveness.