Are You a Liar?

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.



If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (1 John 1:5-10)

So today is the second day of looking at the same scripture. This is kinda fun so far. I like the idea of breaking it down like this. Of course I'm only supposed to preach on one verse (no I won't tell you which just yet) so I have yet to determine if any of this will make it, but I do want to have a deeper understanding of the context anyway.

Yesterday I wrote about the Light of God (I like capitalizing things, have you figured that out?) So today might seem like a bit of a bummer, but we really must follow up the Light with the Lie. Do you live in the light? Let's make this really easy: If you do anything at all where you're grateful for darkness (Except developing film or watching the stars) or where you find yourself looking around first to make sure that no one is looking... well chances are you're not living totally in the light. You're actually hanging out in the shadows a bit. So if you try to say "Yes, I do live in the light, I'm a follower of Jesus and I just love him to bits and pieces" and you go home at night and watch "just a little" porn or call a friend to "keep her up on the news of the area" or take home "just a few reams of paper" from work... well, my friend, from one liar to another--that is NOT living in the light.

I have learned to justify my actions so very well that it's actually a problem. Let me give you a hint: if you start your "reasoning" for doing something by saying "But I feel" or "But I deserve" or even just the word "but," you're looking for a shadow to hide in. Your brain, your heart, and the Holy Spirit inside you are actually pretty good at telling you when you're doing or about to do something that's against God's will. What's crazy, however, is our ability to completely forget that the Light of God is ubiquitous. It's always "on" and it's always everywhere, shining into the corners and through walls. While the star around which this planet revolves is a good image to use for God and His glory, we must not forget that it is the smallest fraction of the reality that is the Great I AM, the  Alpha and Omega.

So, is it possible to live entirely in the light? Heck no! Not unless you're Jesus of Nazareth, born of the virgin Mary. You know it's not possible, I know it's not possible, God knows it's not possible. But does that mean we give up? That we give in to temptation because we're going to sin anyway? Or must we always flagellate ourselves and cry out to God "we're not worthy, we're sinful scum, we should be punished for our sins." (All of which is true, by the way.)

I don't think so.Without trying to get too ahead of myself here, may I just point out one thing: This verse never says "stop sinning." It says "You're a liar if you say that you don't sin."

So is God concerning Himself with your sin, or your attitude about it?

Hmmm. Words for thought, eh? I'll follow up with more tomorrow. :)