What Do I Know?
Good Morning Friends,
I am not sure our expectations for life are realistic. Some say life is a bitch and then you die. I would like to think it is more. But it is so hard trying to be perfect when in my heart of hearts, I know it is ok to be human and humans are far from perfect. We are imperfect creatures in need of much grace. Still part of me, perhaps the better part strives to be more. But, What Do I Know?
Scripture: See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
1 John 3:1-7 (NRSV)
Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:19-23 (NRSV)
If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (NRSV)
Message: What I know friends is how to be a sinner, but I also know that a faith and relationship in Jesus Christ matters in how we live into life. As a follow-up to yesterday’s devotional, today’s also deals with the struggles Christians experience with their own failures and the condemnation we heap on ourselves and each other. It is my hope to help believers be realistic about their journey of faith and the power of God’s grace in their lives but also persistent, optimistic and hopeful. What I look for and find is an answer in Jesus. Jesus is what the disciples, and we by extension, need to be whole. In the end, it is a personal relationship with the Son of God that we need to live life in abundance. We need transformation of our sinful existence into a true reflection of God. That is what God intended from the beginning, and Adam and Eve rejected. The model is Jesus and the disciples, developing a relationship, and letting the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit make the change we all need in our lives. Staying with Jesus even after we think this has occurred is what John is writing about in his first letter. And make no mistake about this, there is a warning in the waiting should we be impatient. John is writing to Christians who are contending with heretics claiming Christians no longer sinned. John realizes that we all are sinners and need to be forgiven. Therefore, he writes that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So friends, what I know is that the process of confession is to God through our relationship with Jesus so we might become children of God living life in abundance.
Pray we are honest and truly repentant. Pray that we seek to know Jesus and to reflect the image of the Son of God, more and more each day. Pray that this reality grows in us so that we would desire to sin less and less each day to the point we abhor and avoid sin even though we still from time to time fail. Pray we submit to the Spirit’s work of creating an image of Christ in us, so more and more each day the nature of God would abide and grow in us. Pray we strive daily to attain this sanctity, and pray for all Christians to aspire to that state. Pray we realize that it is not so much what we know but who we know and love that becomes our focus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 