Try not to act shocked when a sin is confessed to you. We may feel shocked to hear something we didn’t know about our friend, but our reactions could communicate unintended judgment that will push our friend away.
Extend grace and truth, praying for wisdom to know which one to communicate at which time. Wrap arms around your friend. Help him know he’s not alone. Weep and pray with her.
Share your own vulnerability, as appropriate, with this friend. Give examples of personal struggle and God’s faithfulness in it to help bring hope and encouragement.
Remind your friend of the gospel and that there is nothing so dark in their hearts that God can’t rescue them from it. We know this truth from the Bible, but it’s good to say it out loud.
Sometimes, in confessing our sins, we’ll find immediate freedom. Sometimes it will be an ongoing battle for which we’ll need to seek accountability. If we’ve confessed a sin once to a friend, ask them to keep checking in about it. If we’ve been the one confessed to, don’t be afraid to bring it up again.
In the end, God is the one who brings victory, and we can trust that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). After about a year and a half battling my sin with prayer and Scripture, as well as taking my thoughts captive and talking it over with accountability partners, God released me from the bondage I had felt. I may still be tempted by it, but I no longer feel the oppressive hold it once had on me.
He’s never done working on you and me, friend. Even through the darkest nights of our souls. And when we whisper our confessions to one another, he uses the grace of his body to help bring us out of those dark nights. There is always the light of hope through the gospel and the church of Christ.