Devotional Help: 1 John 1.5-10

1 John 1.5-10

⁵And this is the message, which we’ve heard from Him and reported to you, namely that God is Light and not any darkness is in Him. ⁶If we would say that we have a share with Him, and we walk around in the darkness, we’re lying and don’t act out the truth. ⁷But if we would be walking around in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have a share with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleans us from all sin. ⁸If we would say that we don’t have sin, we’re fooling ourselves and the truth isn’t in us. ⁹But if we confess our sins, He is Faithful and Righteous, so that He would forgive the sins for us and would clean us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we would say that we don’t sin, we’re making Him a liar, and His Message is not in us.

Reflections

1. The main issue seems to be the Character of God and whether or not we reflect it in our lives. God is said to be Light, which means that Christians need to be characterized by Light. The antithesis of Light is darkness, so if a person is reflecting darkness, that suggests he/she is not connected to the Light. It's like if you put a mirror in a dark room with no light in it, it doesn't reflect anything but darkness, but if you put a mirror in the sun it reflects a brilliant beam of light. God being Light seems to be connected to His Character qualities. John mentions a few: Truth, Faithfulness, Righteousness, Cleanness, and Forgiveness. The question is am I reflecting those qualities, if not then I am reflecting darkness not God's Light. 

2. The interesting thing is that at the same time that John tells us to look at how we are living and make sure it is sin free, he tells us that if we claim it is sin free, then we are not in agreement with the truth of the matter, and reject God's character as True, and in effect call Him a liar. So, it looks like what John means is that real Christians are generally Godly people, who are constantly being cleaned out by God of all the sin in their lives, who when they find sin confess it and receive God's forgiveness and cleansing, but who are still NOT the kind of people who are more characterized by darkness and sin than Light. Real Christians are people who live like Jesus and live a life close to God, who's failures to live up to that standard are both cleaned away and humbly confessed and forgiven. Conversely, it is the arrogant person who refuses to either live a life in close fellowship with God in terms of his/her actions or admit the obvious and clear sin in their lives. I suppose this is the two sides of the sinful coin: a non-Christian can either live a sinful life and think that has no bearing on revealing whether they are with Jesus or not, or a non-Christian can arrogantly deny that he/she has any sin of his/her own. Non-Christians are really just in two different forms of self-deception. 

3. Interestingly, a deep connection with the Light that manifests itself in our lives, not only enables our relationship with God to flourish because of His constant cleansing, but it enables our relationship with others to flourish too. So I guess the question is when our relationships with other Christians aren't flourishing, is the problem that we are not a Christian, or are not living like a Christian should live? Are we deeply connected to Christ?

Prayer

Abba, You and I both know how much of a horrible sinner I am. I sin everyday in more ways than I know! I don't always get along with others perfectly, forgive me! But thank You so much that You are faithful when I am not, and that You are righteous when I am not, and that You are True when I am not, and that You are Light that shines into my darkness! Thank You for cleaning out all the sin in my life and forgiving me! O Abba, how I long not just for Your forgiveness, but Your cleansing! Clean out my life and wipe the grime of the mirror of my life, so that it receives Your Light and beams it out to the other's around me! Oh, Abba, You know that I am always in danger of self-deception, so have mercy on me and protect me from it! Engrave truth into my being and don't let the horror of my sin keep me from confessing it to You and getting Your cleaning! I worship You, because You are the God of Light! and You Lord Jesus, are the One Whose blood was shed to cover my sins and clean me deep down! O that darkness would be far from me, and that I would be able to say without fear "I have a share with You!" In Jesus' Name, by the Holy Spirit, I pray for Your glory, Abba, Amen!