SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 06-21-04
My Worship Time Focus: Lying & Forgiveness
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: 1John 1:8-10
Message of the verse: “8 ¶
If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to
accept the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is
faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 10 If
we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his
word has no place in our hearts.”
(NLT) 8 ¶ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make
Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
(NKJV)
In verse eight John is saying that
believers should not fool themselves into thinking that they do not sin, but
they are to accept that truth. The
reason that he writes this is because he knows that all believers have two
natures, and the old nature can never do anything that is pleasing to the Lord,
and thus whenever a believer yields to the old nature he sins. Many times when a believer sins he does not
want to admit his wrong doing, yet that is exactly what John says should be
done, for in verse nine he gives the remedy to sin, and that is to agree with
God that we have sinned and believe that God will forgive you of your sin. The verse goes on to say that God is faithful
and just to forgive us of our sins and also to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. He is just to do this
because of what His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ did upon the cross to pay the
penalty for our sin. God can forgive us
and not go against His perfect justice, because that was taken care of on the
cross.
In verse nine John again brings up
the topic of lying, and in this verse the believer is lying to God and this is
a bad thing to fall into. The sequence
of lying in these first ten verses goes as follows: First the believer lies to himself, then to
other believers and finally he lies to God.
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: In these verses I can see
God’s wonderful love, and because of this wonderful love, I can see His
forgiveness. I can see a sequence that I
do not want to fall into, and that is lying to myself, others or especially to
God.
The Word
of God has been challenging to my heart as I have studied it this morning.
My Steps of Faith Today: Trust the Lord with all of my heart, and lean not upon my
own understanding, in all my ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct my
path. Trust the Lord with this trip we
are about to take, and trust the Lord with the outcome of our investments with
Andrew and His working in Andrew’s heart through the efforts of Ann
Dekker.
Memory
verses for the week: 1Cor. 13:4-6
Love is
patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not
arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in
unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth,
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