1 John 1:8-9

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to God, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

John couldn’t have been more blunt. If we claim to be sinless, we’re lying. Presumably, there were people in John’s day who were saying precisely that. He knew it was such a dangerous point of view that he had to be decisive in his language. We can’t be exactly sure who these people were, but in every age there have been people who have claimed to be perfect. We certainly know that there were gnostic groups around in John’s time who believed that they had special knowledge and were not touched by sin.

We are all sinners and need to own up to the fact. We might like to blame our parents, our upbringing, our education, the government or the weather, but, at the end of the day, we must take responsibility and acknowledge that we have sinned. We have deliberately gone our own way and done things that have obstructed our relationship with God and the people around us. Because we are sinners, we will always try to make light of our sin and suggest that we are not as bad as other sinners that we know, but sin is sin, and we need to stop trivialising it. As Jeremy Taylor said: “No sin is small. It is a sin against an infinite God and may have immeasurable consequences. No grain of sand is small in the mechanism of a watch.”

Sin needn’t have the last word. If we own up and confess our sins to God, he is willing to set us free from them. This is an incredible miracle and couldn’t possibly happen without God. Only he has the power to set us free and send us off on a new journey of life and liberty.

Question

What do you need to confess to God today?

Prayer

Lord God, I own up to the fact that I often let you down. Please forgive my sin, fill me with your Spirit and enable me to live a new life with you. Amen