1 John 1:8–10

February 26, 2010 in 1 John with 0 Comments

8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fool­ing our­selves and not liv­ing in the truth. 9 But if we con­fess our sins to him, he is faith­ful and just to for­give us our sins and to cleanse us from all wicked­ness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are call­ing God a liar and show­ing that his word has no place in our hearts.

Faith­ful and Just

I love this pas­sage. For some, they focus on the chal­lenge that’s found in its words. That you’re fool­ing your­self if you claim to have no sin. That if you do sug­gest you have no sin, you’re a liar. Yes, that’s all true. And yes, for some peo­ple, that might be where you need to focus with this passage.

How­ever, in my expe­ri­ence, most peo­ple have no prob­lem admit­ting they have sinned. Most of the peo­ple I spend time with quickly acknowl­edge that they have messed up many times. Their issue has noth­ing to do with claim­ing to have no sin.

For those peo­ple, the biggest issue is accept­ing that God will for­give their sin. It’s incred­i­ble to me how many times I hear some­one say some­thing like, “I wish I could believe that God loves and accepts me just as I am. I wish it really was as easy as sim­ply con­fess­ing my sin and being forgiven.”

And yet, that’s exactly what this pas­sage says. If we con­fess, he will for­give. Notice it doesn’t say, “If we con­fess to a min­is­ter or a priest.” God’s the one who for­gives. He’s also the one we need to con­fess our sins to. And when we do, he for­gives. He cleanses us.

It doesn’t say, “He might for­give. You know, as long as your sin isn’t a doozy!” No, it says “He will for­give.” It’s a done deal.

In fact, you could read this pas­sage to be say­ing that if you don’t believe God has for­given you, then you are call­ing him a liar. It’s that strong of a statement.

So believe it. Accept it. When you con­fess your sins, you don’t need to still do some­thing to earn God’s for­give­ness. You have it. He’s faith­ful and just and will forgive.

My prayer: Lord, thank you for for­give­ness. And thank you for the con­fi­dence that I can have in know­ing that you have for­given me. As I admit my sin, con­fess it to you, repent and turn away from it, you pro­vide me with the for­give­ness and the strength to live for you. Your grace is truly amaz­ing. Amen.

Until tomor­row.