READ: ROMANS 6:11-14; EPHESIANS 5:1-20; 1 JOHN 1:7-9

Have you ever finished cleaning a room…only to notice the sun shining on a dusty spot you missed? In our Christian lives, the same thing happens in our hearts. Often, we don’t even notice our own sin. But, through God’s Word, through our prayer times, through our times at church, or through something else, Jesus continues to show us forgotten places in our hearts where we are struggling to love God and our neighbors well. Think about it this way—Jesus is the Light, and in His mercy He shines on us, showing us sin in our lives that He wants to clean away. It can be unsettling to realize we have sin in our lives that we weren’t even aware of, but we can trust that whenever God brings an area of sin to light, it’s because He wants to help us and bring renewal to that messy place.

As 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” Like a dust rag cleans dust off a forgotten table, Jesus cleans away our sin.

And this good news is multi-faceted. Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, He frees us from both the result of sin—which is death—and also from the power of sin. That means, once we put our trust in Jesus, we can know that all our sins are forgiven—past, present, and future. And, because the Holy Spirit is living inside us, we don’t have to give in to the temptation to sin anymore. The Holy Spirit empowers us to say “no” to sin and live in God’s good ways instead. And even though we’ll never do this perfectly until Jesus returns, His forgiveness remains sure.

Has something you’ve done that’s wrong been made visible to you by Jesus recently? We all sin every day, and that’s why He invites us to confess our sins to Him often, resting in His sure forgiveness. Then, we can live by the light of His Spirit, trusting Him to help us do what’s right. We can live in love toward God and our neighbors because of Jesus. • A. W. Smith

• Where in your life do you struggle to truly love God and your neighbors (Matthew 22:36-40)? Jesus invites us to talk to Him about this—we can be totally honest with Him because He knows what temptation is like and He empathizes with us, but He Himself never sinned, so He can help us (Hebrews 4:14-16). He reminds us how much He loves us, and He often reveals underlying lies we’re believing that might be causing a struggle to continue—lies about God, ourselves, or others. Consider taking a moment to talk to Jesus about whatever comes to mind.

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9 (NLT)