1 John 1:8-9 - If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Have you ever been in denial over something that has been brought to your attention? Maybe it was a mistake that you made or perhaps someone made you aware of a character flaw that you hadn’t noticed before. Whatever it was, denial happens as a sort of defense mechanism against having to think about how we’ve been wrong or when we’ve done wrong. It can also happen when you receive bad news and you don’t want to believe it, so you pretend that it didn’t happen after all.
Living in denial cannot last forever, because if what we are denying is true, there is no getting away from it. If we try to run away from the wrong things that we have done, we are running away from truth itself. Living in denial is almost like choosing to live in a completely different reality, and that will cause more harm in the long run than the initial wrongs we are unwilling to accept. In the case of these verses, if we say that we have no sin in our lives, we are rejecting the truth and are living in that false reality. The way John puts it is that we “deceive ourselves”.
People may not want to admit that they sin, but whether we acknowledge it or not, it is still in us. The first question that these verses answer for us is, “Do we have sin in our lives?” The answer it provides is a clear, “Yes”. So, if we choose to accept this, the second question is, “What do I do about this sin?” The wrong answer is to pretend it doesn’t exist. The right answer, the answer that comes from the truth, is to acknowledge your sins and then confess them.
Sin thrives in the dark. When you speak your sin to God or others, it pushes it into the light, and sin cannot live in the light. The light reveals all of the falsehood in our sin, all the pain that it causes, and we are able to see our sin for what it truly is. In some sense we know how bad our sins are, and so we continue to keep them hidden. We don’t believe that anyone could still love us if they knew of our sin. And yet, these verses say the opposite. If we go to God, he not only shines the light of truth on our sin, but he also forgives us and cleanses us from that unrighteousness.
In other words, you need not carry your sin with you, hiding it in the dark places, feeling it’s painful and damaging grip on your life. Walking in the dark strips you of strength and blinds you from the hope that exists in Christ. Today, you can confess your sins to the Lord and he will forgive you. The Puritan pastor Richard Sibbes wrote, “There is more mercy in Christ, than sin in us.” In his mercy he will forgive you, and in his love he will cleanse you.
There is sin in all of us, but Christ died for the ungodly sinner. Don’t let your sin weaken you or deceive you today. Hope in the cross of Christ and find your strength for today in the freedom from sin that you can have through Jesus who already knows your sin far better than you do, and yet he died for you, loves you, and draws near to you still.
