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.

1 John 1:5-10

Dear God, I can’t read verse 7 without thinking about dc Talk and their cover of Charlie Peacock’s “In the Light.”

I worked for a Christian music publisher for seven years. As I look back on it now 30 years later and I see the struggles many of the young artists we promoted (who were my age back then) have had since then with their personal lives and faith in you, I cannot help but see the irony of this song. We are so encouraged to not let our real selves be known. Our sins be known. Our struggles be known. Living “in the light” is difficult.

So how do we live in the “light?” It’s right there in verse 9: 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. But we have to confess them. We have to confess them to you. But we also need someone else to confess them to. Catholics would say we need reconciliation through a priest. I wouldn’t go that far, but we need someone. Going back to dc Talk, a couple of the guys have had well-documented struggles. Did they have someone to confess their sins to? We need others. We need accountability and community.

Father, I have a couple of men in my life with whom I can be vulnerable. Thank you for that. Help me to be truly vulnerable with them. I want to live in your light. I will not be like verse 8: ⁸ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. I don’t want to be like verse 10: 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. I want to live out verse 9. Help me to do that with others, and make me the kind of person with whom others can do that as well. Help me to be that safe person who can inspire and help someone grow.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen