We belong to God
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” — I John 1:5-2:2
God is light. If we walk in the darkness, we don’t have fellowship with him. Many people speak warmly of God and his place in their lives, but their thoughts, words, and actions betray both the fact that they are lying and that they are not practicing the truth in the way they conduct themselves. They need to hear this call to repent.
A genuine life in the light of God (verse 7), by contrast, is marked not by mere words but by behavior in harmony with the light of God’s revelation and the cleansing blood of Christ that purifies us of everything dark within us. The promise of this cleansing blood resolves the contradiction the honest believer recognizes between his actual way of life and that which God’s light commands. It relieves our guilt when God’s light exposes the flaws in the life we live. It shows us where to turn in repentance.
However, if we claim to be sinless, we show that the truth is not in us. His call to repent gives us the power to do it. When we turn from that lie, from that darkness, and confess our sins, Jesus forgives because of who he is (faithful and just). In addition, he acts as our legal advocate. After all, he has paid the price. This defender is also the “atoning sacrifice for our sins” (verse 2), the payment of our debt that satisfies God’s anger at sin, for us and the world.
We want to live in
God’s light by doing the things God wants us to do. We want to do these things because of what Jesus has done for us, not because we will gain any reward in earth or in heaven. Jesus won the prize, and he will help us keep the prize. We avoid the darkness so that we don’t forfeit the prize of eternal life.
Happy that I belong to God because of Christ! Just like you!
Jacob Hanneman is the pastor of Shepherd of the Plains Lutheran Church in Fort Morgan. In-person worship is at 9 a.m. Sundays. Online worship can be found at www.shepherd ofthe plainslutheranchurch. com.