Wednesday, July 8, 2009

1John 1:8-2:1

"If we claim 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. I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus."

Being a Christian doesn't make you perfect - it makes you forgiven. It doesn't mean you never sin again for the rest of your life. And it doesn't mean that if you do sin again that you've lost your salvation. What it means is that you are free to follow God's commandments to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and body and to love your neighbor as yourself because all your sins are forgiven. You don't have to worry about being perfect. Not that sinning is ok, but learning to overcome sin takes time and can only be done with Jesus's help. People who are not saved are in essence either saying that they are not sinners or that they can save themselves, both of which are lies.

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