Philip Yancey writes: ‘Confessing my sins before God communicates something God already knows, yet somehow the act of confession binds the relationship and allows a closeness that could not otherwise exist. I make myself vulnerable and dependent, bringing God and me together. The same kind of intimacy happens when, all too rarely, I apologise to my wife for something we both know about. I do not bring her information; I bring her my heart, my humbled self.’

Source: Quoted by Nicky Gumbel in The Jesus Lifestyle, 2010, London: Alpha International, p.164