GOD’S CLEANING PROJECT
Opening Prayer
Thank you, Father, for the fellowship that is mine with you because you gave your Son. May I never take for granted the high price you paid for me to have that privilege.
Read 1 JOHN 1:5–2:2
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 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[a] sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
2 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. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Footnotes
- 1 John 1:7 Or every
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What would you discover if you were to shine a torch into your attic, or cellar, or behind some old furniture? Perfect cleanliness—or might the light’s beam find some dirt?In this letter, John offered the life of God through two great truths: God is light (1:5) and God is love (4:8).
The light of God shines into our lives and will increasingly show up the dirty recesses of our inner reality. It would be inconsistent, and therefore wrong, to claim to be in fellowship with God but actually to live in darkness (1:6). Yet some people were denying the reality of Christ’s mission in this world and claimed that they were without sin (1:10). By this, they showed that they did not have a superior spirituality—they did not have God’s Word in them at all.
So, what are we to do when the light of God reveals more and more grime in the back corners of our inner life? We should remember God’s plan for our sin—the death of Jesus on the cross (1:7). We should confess our sin so that he might continue to forgive and purify us (1:9) and we should rest not in our sin, nor in our push for perfection, but in God’s perfect plan to deal with it (2:1, 2).
Apply
God does not condone any sin in our lives but he knows all about it. What’s more, he has done everything to take care of it. Praise him for the wonder of the cross!
Closing prayer
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts (Psalm 139:23). Holy Spirit, bring me to repentance where I need to conform to God’s will for me and realign my thoughts and actions.
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