Today’s verse comes from John’s first letter. It’s time to confess our sins.
The first chapter of John’s first epistle is a short ten verses. The context of confessing our sins starts with verse five.
“This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 Yeshua His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.”
– 1 John 1:5-10
These verses are not just an explanation of walking in the Light. It’s a call for repentance and turning to God’s way. Verse six says if we call ourselves Christians but do things that He calls sin, we are liars and do not practice the truth. John’s words agree with Paul’s about examining ourselves to see that we are in the faith.
Verse nine is the focus today. It’s another conditional statement. If we confess, He will forgive. The action is on us. We need to confess our sins to Him. It doesn’t mean to pray that God will forgive our sins. He has already promised to forgive us if we confess. Confess means to admit or acknowledge, to declare. In other words, name the sin. Own up to it. Hiding behind the generic term sin is the same as trying to hide that you have committed a certain sin. And John says in verse ten that if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. If you try to hide a sin by not naming it, that’s the same as saying you haven’t committed that sin. John further says that God’s Word is not in us if we do that. It’s time to remedy that by confessing our sins, specifically.
We’re two days into the days of teshuvah. How are you doing? Pray that the Spirit will show you where you are lacking and what you need to confess. Be honest with yourself. Be honest with God.
Shalom