1 John 1:9

Verse of the Day: 1John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

None of us are perfect, no matter what we think. However, as true Christians this should be our desire. Speaking for myself, there are times when I fail to do what God has commanded me to do, or I do what God has commanded me not to do.  Even the Apostle Paul struggled with this. And if we are honest, we all do.  The verse prior to our focus verse says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Notice his wording, ‘If we say we have no sin’, present tense. Paul was clear in his letter to the Church in Rome that no one can say they have no sin. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ Romans 3:23.

What John is saying is as Christians we are to walk with God and devote ourselves totally to Him. We are to live a life that honors Christ, that is a perfect life. However, in our fleshly weakness we often do things we know are wrong. Paul put it like this regarding his own struggle, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” Romans 7:18-19. Paul understood that he was far from perfect. He knew that he did not always live in a way that honored God. In fact, he states that no one does. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12. And to say that we have no sin puts us in a dangerous place because God’s grace and mercy is extended to sinners, not to those who see these as mistakes, or who say, “I’m only human”. We need to realize the victory and forgiveness that comes from praying, “I am a sinner, even a great sinner, but I have a Savior who cleanses me from all sin.”

And this is laid out in our focus verse. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Though sin is present, it need not remain a hindrance to our relationship with God, we will find cleansing from all unrighteousness as we confess our sins. By confessing our sins, we are willing to say and believe the same thing about our sin that God says about it. The one who confesses his sin is the one who agrees with God about how bad he was. And if we deny the presence of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and are denying God’s Word. “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:10. And though sin is always present, so is its remedy, so sin need never be a hindrance to our relationship with God. We need to confess all sins to God, and this confession should be with the idea of knowing what you did was sin, hating having done it and desiring never to do it again but wanting to honor God in everything. In this, He is “faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

1 John 1:9

Verse of the Day: 1John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

If you are like me, you are not perfect.  As true Christians we want to be.  Speaking for myself, there are times when I fail to do what God has commanded, or I do what God has commanded us not to do.  Even Paul the apostle struggled with this.

If we are honest, we all do.  In fact, the verse just before our focus verse says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  1 John 1:8. Notice the tense here.  He does not say ‘If we say we have not sinned’ past tense, he says ‘If we say we have no sin’ present tense.  Also, John is not writing this to just anyone, but to the Church.

What John is saying is as Christians we are to walk with Him and devote ourselves totally to Him.  However, in our fleshly weakness we are subject to doing things we know we should not do.  Paul put it like this regarding his own struggle, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” Romans 7:18-19.

However, here is the answer.  Strive to be perfect.  Jesus said himself, ‘Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’  Matthew 5:48.  We should want nothing less.  However, if we do miss the mark, then we should go humbly before God and confess what we have done.  Be completely honest.  He knows it all anyway.  And when you do, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  This is a great promise from Him.  Then, go back out and strive to be that light in the darkness He desires us to be.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

1 Corinthians 13:6

Verse of the Day Devotion: 1 Corinthians 13:6 

“Does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth.” – 1 Corinthians 13:6 

Paul here moves to an area that we are seeing more and more in our culture.  He is saying that love does not rejoice in unrighteousness.  It does not celebrate the vices of another.  It does not take delight when someone commits a crime or falls into any sin.  Today, when we look at our movies and even our TV programming, we see many shows that focus on the evils in society, and unfortunately, these are the ones that are the most successful.  Those regarding positivity often do not do as well.

However, this is not limited to our entertainment, but we are seeing this occurring in real life.  First, I want to make clear that the type of love being discussed here is based on agape love, which can be as charity. This type of love is not as concerned with ourselves but is more concerned with the greater good of another.  It is not born out of our emotions or feelings, but from a desire to see the best for everyone.  And this includes those that many find difficult to love.  Therefore it does not see as a positive any form of wrongdoing against anyone.  And this includes those many find difficult to love.

We may think, who rejoices in unrighteousness?  But is it not a frequent case that people who have received any kind of injury have decided to avenge themselves, or perhaps leave it to God to avenge them: causing something terrible to happen, and then consoling themselves with what appears to them evidence that God has brought revenge and do at least secretly rejoice that the man is suffering for his misdeeds?  Jesus, when He was suffering on the cross did not wish evil on those who did this.  “But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.” Luke 23:34.  As difficult as it can be, we are called to think the same way.  God does not call us to desire harm or evil upon them.  As Gordon D., Fee says in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, “But for the apostle, love stands on the side of the gospel and looks for redemptive mercy and justice for all, including those with whom one disagrees.”    

And lastly, we are called to rejoice in truth.  We are to rejoice with everything that is the opposite of falsehood and iniquity.  We are not to rejoice in the vices but in virtues of others.  We should be pleased when people do well when it is done in ways that are not wrong or evil.  And we should rejoice when those who are evil get saved, celebrating because  they have received salvation and have turned around: that they have accepted the truth of God through the gospel.  The truth is that God wants all to be saved.  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.  This should be our way of thinking.  That no matter what anyone does, we should desire their salvation, which is the greatest good we could ever wiah for anyone.   

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.