1 John : Day 2 : The Light

Day Two: The Light

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 1:5 – 2:2 (ESV)

The biggest issue we have is sin.  Sin can strain relationships with friends and family, it can get us in trouble, it can make us feel distant from God, and ultimately sin will kill us.  Even asChristians, we battle sin daily.  In Romans 7:15-20, Paul goes into this in great detail in how he longs to do what is right and still fails.  The good news is that we can have victory.  The bad news is that the non-Christian is stuck in sin, even if he is a “good” person.  

We do not have the ability to know if someone is a Christian or not all of the time; in fact, that is God’s job.  But we can see what actions someone takes, we can judge their fruit.  We should not judge whether a person sins or not, but how they handle it afterwards.  Are the repentant?  Do they remain in sin?  Do they flaunt their sin?  These are a few questions we can ask, even in self-reflection.  

Proverbs 24:16 states, “for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”  There are two steps in recovery that I do not feel get enough attention, Steps Six and Seven.  They are; (Six) “Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character,” and (Seven) “Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.”  Someone working these steps may ask another how they can do these steps if still struggle with their defects of character.  The more seasoned person should respond that they should live as if God had already relieved them of those shortcomings.  This does not mean ignore the fact we still struggle with sin or live in denial.  We may never get beyond some of our struggles in our lifetime, but it doesn’t mean we get bogged down by them.  It doesn’t mean we let this sin dictate our life.  We move forward, we keep living the life God wants for us.  The biggest reason we can do this is because in 1 John 2:2, we see Christ is our advocate.  He is like a defense attorney, He has paid the price for our sin, which is indicated in the word propitiation.  By no means does this indicate that we take advantage of this and see what we can get away with.  But, we can go on living free to do what God wants us to do with no strings attached.