Skip to main content

Faithful and Just

             If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)

To begin, confession isn’t just saying that we did something. It’s a “con” word, meaning that it’s doing something with someone else. In this case, it involves agreeing with someone about the nature of something we believe or have done. It’s the difference between “I took” and “I stole, it was wrong, and I regret having done it.”

The next term is “sin.” As I’ve noted recently, this word causes a lot of trouble. But, to explain it simply, it was a term taken from archery and meaning the distance from the bullseye that the arrow hit. In other words, it’s not some great big bad thing. It’s any imperfection. In some cases, we might actually be wrong about something being a sin, but the point is to talk it over with God and let Him inform you. Note: If Scripture says it’s a sin, it’s a sin. It’s not going to change.

And because of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, the penalty for our sins has been justly paid, so if we’re willing to agree with God about our sins, there’s no reason for Him not to forgive them. However, if we are like Gollum and our sins are the one ring… “It’s ours, my precious!” God will let us keep them and pay the price ourselves. The choice is ours.

All this is really old news. But let’s take a moment to consider God. I don’t think I’m good at this, but this verse says that He’s faithful and just. He promised He would provide a way, that Someone would come and save us. He did it in a way that that didn’t have to violate our personhood, His integrity, or His justice. I’ve corresponded with some people who seem to think that He should have done all this in a way that didn’t allow sin to take place while simultaneously not violating our personhood. But my praise of Him is greater because He created me to be me, knowing all the faults and sins that would fill my life. And when our myopic vision of reality and His part in our lives clears, I’ll rejoice more fully than I am able to here, whatever that looks like. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more