In his daily devotional on Wednesday (free registration required), Pastor Greg Laurie talked about what it truly means to confess our sins to God:
The problem is that there are people today who think they have confessed their sin when they haven’t. Far too many people think that to confess their sin is merely to acknowledge their sin. Therefore, they will sin, they will get caught, and they will say, “I acknowledge what I did. I confess that sin. That was a bad thing.” Then they go out and do it again and say, “I did it again. I confess.” That’s not a true confession. They are simply recognizing what is obviously sin.
Confession means to see sin for what it is, to be sorry for it, and to turn from it. You have to take your sin to the cross and recognize it is offensive to the one and only true God. Are you willing to do that? If so, then God will forgive you and cleanse you from all your unrighteousness.
It has been said that Christians are their own worst enemy when it comes to evangelizing Christ to the nations. Part of that could be our failure to truly confess and turn from our sins, for our actions speak louder than any words.