"Bookkeeping Hearts"

"First, confession of sin should be thought of as a matter of tending to relationships, and it should not be thought of as a matter of karmic bookkeeping. You are dealing with people, not ledgers. Unfortunately, many people who are carrying a burden of guilt around have bookkeeping hearts (part of the problem), and they think of confession as though it were 'making a payment on a debt.' This means that wrong-headed confession can make things messier. Confession and forgiveness are functions of grace, not bookkeeping." Doug Wilson