1 John 1:5-10 (MSG)
“This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in Him. If we claim that we experience a shared life with Him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God Himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin. If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—He won’t let us down; He’ll be true to Himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of Him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.“
You know the thing that really bugged Jesus about the Pharisees? It was their hypocrisy. These men thought they were close to God, but they really had no person experience with Him. They made up rules just to condemn others who weren’t following them. They neglected the rules God actually felt were important. It was all just smoke and mirrors with them. I think most Christians have some understanding of this and like to point a finger at the Pharisees, but maybe we need to take a step back and look in a mirror.
There are plenty of us who are guilty of the same thing. I mean do you think the people around the Pharisees realized that they were being hypocritical? No! They thought these people were truly righteous and holy! They thought these guys had the corner market on understanding God. If anyone in Judea had a relationship with God, surely it was this group of men. There are lots of us who carry the title of Christian. Maybe our friends and community members would even agree that we are Christians. But what does our heart say? Are we really walking the walk?
Are we focused on the things that are important to God, or are we focused on the things that are important to men? None of us is going to do this perfectly. We are going to stumble at some point or other. The difference is what we do when we stumble. Do we cry out to God, admit our mistake, and seek forgiveness? Or do we justify what we’re doing, pretend to be holy, and go along with our sin still clinging to us? John sets a high bar here. We are to be in the light the way that God Himself is in the light. We are to walk through our lives the way that Jesus did. When you look at it, that’s a nearly impossible standard to achieve, but when that’s our goal and we admit our faults, God steps in to help us achieve it. With God’s constant cleansing and constant companionship, we will manage to be in the light the way that He is in the light because we will never get far enough away from Him to go down the wrong path.
Father, I thank you that you are constantly at work in me. You are helping me to overcome those areas where I struggle. You are cleansing me from sin constantly. As long as I stay connected to you, admit my weaknesses and my struggles, acknowledge the times when I miss the mark, you are faithfully working in me to keep me in the light. I can’t stray from the path if I’m holding your hand and walking closely by your side. Help me to readily admit when I mess up. Open my eyes to the areas of my life where I am falling short and justifying it. I don’t want to be like the Pharisees, focused on the wrong thing. I want to walk the walk the way you intended. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
A Beautiful Mess 