WATCHWORD:
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 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. 7 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. 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. 1 John 1:5-10 (I inserted the bold in the word ‘if’ for this devotional. 1 John 1:5-10
Meditation:
Are you sitting on your own good intentions?
You sit in church every Sunday. Good for you. You have read through the Bible multiple times. Good for you. You tithe 10%, just like God has told you. Good for you. You visit your friends when they are sick and in the hospital. Good for you. How’s your scorecard looking? Are you there yet? Do you have enough points? Have you earned your ticket to Heaven by checking off every good deed as you understood them, even though there were times when it exhausted you? Good for you. You are almost there…maybe.
If you spend time in a barn, does that make you a horse? Does being in a gym make you an athlete? Does attending worship services make you a Christian? I wonder how many of us think that way. We’re compulsive about things when it comes to our thoughts about Christ and the church, and what I should be doing. I could get a discouraged when I consider the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of different “brands” of Christianity, called denominations, each one trying to say it right, each one born out of an emphasis on some superficial point. Their hearts may be in the right place, but when does the color of the carpet, or the fact that we have a rock band providing praise music, or that the lyrics to a hymn are there on the screen in front of us, transform us and bring us to salvation?
What’s happening within our hearts when we sit in the pew, and we gaze at the cross? What thoughts go through our minds when we meditate on what the cross truly means? Do you think about Christ hanging there, bleeding, suffering, and in that act, His full surrender to God the Father, which means forgiveness of our sin. What a sacrifice, what a price to pay for us!
How do we convey our eternal gratitude? Re-read, again, the 1 John passage. Note the “if”s:
if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living our old sinful way. What then?
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves, we certainly aren’t fooling God.
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we are changed children of God and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. We are a new person and it should be reflected in every aspect of the way we live our lives.
So get off the simplicity of resting on your good intentions and live by the Light of His Word. May that be so with each one of us.
Closing Prayer:
Help us Heavenly father, transform us, guide us, so that we walk in the light of your Word on the pathway you have laid out for us, and by holding on to you, we do not stray into old habits and foolish thinking. May the way we live our lives bring honor and glory to you so that we may rest assured that we are your children. In Jesus name, Amen.
