⁵ This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. ⁶ So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. ⁷ But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. ⁹ But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 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.

2 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. ² He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

³ And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. ⁴ If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. ⁵ But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. ⁶ Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

1 John 1:5-2:6

Dear God, yet again, here is another example of the accidental separating of a single message by the insertion of chapter breaks. The verse of the day from Bible Gateway was 1 John 2:1. Great. But when I read it, I realized it was a continuation of a thought, not the beginning of one. So, I went back and picked up where the thought started. We have to be so careful when we read modern presentations of scripture that we don’t misunderstand something simply because we didn’t read the whole thing. It’s one thing to misunderstand because of a lack of cultural context or real knowledge of the Bible. I do that all of the time, I am sure. But to miss it simply because of an unfortunate chapter break or subheading translators inserted to make it easier for us to find things is…well, it’s unfortunate, to say the least.

With that said, what does the apostle John have for me these 2,000-ish years after he wrote it? What do you, Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, have for me this morning? As I read through this passage, what I see is attitude combined with hope. It’s my attitude combined with the hope you offer through Jesus as my savior and my advocate that give me life. John isn’t saying I have to be perfect to be in fellowship with you, but I do need to have an attitude of wanting to simply do the right-est things that you command I do. While I read this passage this morning, it reminded me of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Then I thought about how John sat and listened to that sermon, maybe multiple times. And while some of it probably sank in, not all of it did at once. I think some of it didn’t really hit him until after Jesus’s resurrection. And now here he is, imploring people, imploring me, that I don’t have to be perfect, but I do have to have an attitude of holiness, humility, repentance, and perseverance. If I can come to the end of myself and submit my life to you, then you can change me into the person you know I can be.

Father, I just prayed with my wife, and I marveled at how you, the God of the universe, are interested in us individually and hear our prayers. You answered a specific prayer for her yesterday. She felt it. She knew you were there are part of it. And there was peace afterward. An atheist would hear that and say it was all in her head, but there is no part of either of us that doubts you heard her and answered our prayers for her. So I know you are here now. You are here, Holy Spirit, advocating for me to the Father. Jesus, you are here, bein my redemption before the Father. And Father, you are here in a mysterious way I don’t totally understand, loving me in your God-ness. Thank you. Help me to see what you need me to see today. Love me and love through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen