Today we’ll continue with some of your favorites (or the passages you have questions about). Email (andy@stm-umc.org) or message me with any passages you’d like added or that you have a question about!

Today we are looking at 1 John 1: 5-9:

1 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Today’s passage is one that I wish I had known earlier in my life.  Today we see John teaching, and he talks to us about light and dark, goodness and evil.  We see that as Christians, we are called to have fellowship, not with darkness, but with light.  We are to walk with God and be in the light as He is in the light. 

But we will find, at times, we will fall. We will sin He says today that if we say we have no sin, we lie to ourselves. But here is the key, and what I wish I had known earlier if we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive and cleanse us.

You can be forgiven. You can.  You can be forgiven.  If we confess our sins, we can be forgiven.  Your sins, your mistakes, your falls, they are not things that you have to hold onto.  Through the sacrifice of Jesus, you can be forgiven.  You don’t have to hold onto the mistakes of the past. You don’t have to beat yourself up over past failings.  You don’t have to feel as though you must remain in your sin, for there is no hope.  

You can be forgiven.  

Here’s the thing about God’s mercy.  Our “confession” does not trigger God’s forgiveness.  He is not in heaven, saying, “if only they’d confess, I’d give them grace.”   To think like that means that we earn it if we have to “do” something to make God act. That’s now why we confess; confession is not for God’s benefit; it’s for ours.  We confess so that we can acknowledge it, name it, and understand that sin has no hold on us. 

We confess for our benefit, not for His.  When we do confess, we receive, we hear, and we accept His grace.  Today, through the work of Jesus, you can be forgiven.  Receive, and know, that forgiveness today.  

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