The apostle John’s account of the gospel was written to all people so that they may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, may have life in His name. (ref. John 20:31). Additionally, he wrote a letter to those he had been ministering to in the province of Asia, addressing heresy that had shaken many of the new believers and uncertainty that had come amongst the congregations.
John uses the letter to pastor and correct the issues at hand: one being, the belief that we can have fellowship with God and go on living in spiritual darkness.
“This is the message we have heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 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. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that His Word has no place in our hearts.” – 1 John 1: 5-10 (NLT)
Sadly, many believers and churches today are struggling with similar false teaching: teaching a gospel that promotes ‘come as you are and receive the grace of God’, with no correction to call believers to live by the Light.
John is essentially saying, don’t claim to be a Christian and still live an evil, immoral, life that is contrary to the things of God. We are called to daily living in the Spirit of God (“the Light”).
Please hear me. God’s grace is for everyone. He meets us as we are. Come as you are! But His love for us doesn’t want to leave us how He found us. His Spirit that comes to live inside all who believe is grieved when we sin. We reject the move of the Holy Spirit in our lives when we blatantly live in darkness. Forgive my boldness here, but the kind of Christianity that chooses to keep sinning and doesn’t desire to change, is selfish and holding onto a false gospel.
One of the many things I feel like the Spirit of God has taught me during this pandemic, is that our reverence for Him must increase. Do we have a faith that leaves us in awe of God? Do we have a faith that burns inside us, that is continuously calling us to be more like Jesus?
Are we settling for what we want? Or for what God’s best is for us?
I don’t want to miss out on the great things He has planned for me.
The moment we confess that Jesus is Lord and we believe He died and rose again as our Saviour, all the sin we will ever commit, has been forgiven. While forgiveness and cleansing are a guarantee for all who believe, living in the Light reflects the value we place on what we’ve been given. What I mean is this: if I continue to live however I want in relationship to sin, it shows that I don’t think sin is a very big deal and don’t really value Christ being beaten and killed for my mistakes. It shows that I take for granted all that took place for me to have the opportunity for a right relationship with God INSPITE of the fact that I’m the one that is flawed, sinful, and shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near Him. Now, I don’t know about you, but there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t sin. While we will not lose the Holy Spirit because of this, we quench the Spirit by choosing to live in the darkness of ‘our own way’ instead of in the Light that God has for us.
This is where confession can be so powerful.
Not out of a necessity to keep being forgiven - Christ died once and for all for all sin - but because we desire intimate fellowship with God. And saying “sorry”, acknowledging where we can get better, helps any relationship.
More than anything I want to live in continual intimacy with the Holy Spirit.
Until Jesus returns and takes me to Heaven… I want to live in awe of Him.
I want Him above everything else.
I want Him and I don’t want anything standing in the way.
“Father God, thank you for who You are. For your love. For your patience. Thank you that Jesus paid the sacrifice for all my sin – past, present and future. Thank you for your grace, God, that covers the multitude of my sins. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for being Life and Light inside me that calls me to righteousness…searches me and shows me what I need to do…shows me what isn’t of the Light…and calls me to rid myself of all evil and unholiness in my life. I desire to live in reverence to You. To live in awe. Make me more like you God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
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