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This is the message he has given us to announce to
you: God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying
if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual
darkness. We are not living in the truth. But if we are living in the
light of God's presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with
each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.
If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to
accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and
just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have
not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no
place in our hearts. (1
John 1:5-10 NLV). This
is the time of the year when we might have some fog in low-lying areas.
In fact, not long ago as I was driving to work I saw an unusual
thing. When I left my neighborhood and entered the highway I looked down
the road and saw the fog very distinctly ahead. It was unusual since it
usually isn’t that distinctly separated from area to area. The most
unusual thing about it was the anticipation of entering it. As I
approached the fog bank I noticed it wasn’t nearly as thick from the
inside of it as it appeared to be from the outside. There wasn’t enough
contrast to really tell the difference. Then I was reminded of this
passage of Scripture. How easy it is to lose sight of what is right and
wrong from the inside of wrong. In “A View From The Zoo”, Gary
Richmond, a former zookeeper, had this to say: “Raccoons
go through a glandular change at about 24 months. After that they often
attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound
dog in a scrap, I felt compelled to mention the change coming to a pet
raccoon owned by a young friend of mine, Julie. She listened politely as I
explained the coming danger. I’ll never forget her answer. “‘It will
be different for me…’ And she smiled as she added, ‘Bandit
wouldn’t hurt me. He just wouldn’t.’ “Three months later Julie
underwent plastic surgery for facial lacerations sustained when her adult
raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason. Bandit was released into the
wild.” Sin is deceptive. It often comes dressed in an adorable guise, and as we play with it, how easy it is to say, “It will be different for me.” The results are predictable. It will always lead to our destruction. There is a remedy for it though! The last two verses in our reading today make it very plain that forgiveness and restoration are available to us when we simply agree with God about our sin. He already knows what we have done. Agree with the truth of that and then you can be forgiven. Ask Him to restore you to the light and empower you to walk in His life and you will be surprised how clear your surroundings become! |
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