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.
—1 John 1:7
A wife commented to her husband as they were traveling in the car, “When we dated, we always sat so close together, and now we are so far apart.” From the driver’s seat, the husband responded, “I haven’t moved from behind this wheel; if anyone has moved, it is you.”
This may help us in thinking about our relationship with God. If God seems distant to us, it is not because God has moved. If we walk in the light, we enjoy God’s purifying presence and the fellowship of all who are in the light. But if we walk in darkness—that is, away from the light of God—how can we expect to remain connected with God? We know God’s light pushes away the darkness, and Jesus comes to bring us out of our darkness (see John 8:12; 10:14-18; Luke 15). But if we continue walking in darkness, that is like running away from God.
The apostle John shares God’s remedy for this: to confess our sins. To confess is to agree that we have sinned and disobeyed God. As Tony Evans puts it, “If God calls it sin, you cannot reduce it to a bad habit … you cannot say it is a personality disorder … you cannot say everyone else does it.” If God calls it sin, then it is sin.
Let us daily confess our sins to God, asking for forgiveness.
Father, open our eyes to see things the way you do. We enter your cleansing light to purify us from all our filth. In your name, Amen.
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