The first letter of John is probably my favourite book especial the
opening verses
1 John 1 v5:10 This is the message we have heard from him
and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we
claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do
not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies
us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be
without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us
from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to
be a liar and his word is not in us.
Possibly because transparency is engrained in my DNA and the concept of walking in the light is at
the very root of the gospels I love the first chapter.
John’s Gospel starts with “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1 v4).
and the concept that Jesus is Light and runs throughout his gospel. So it is not surprising that John picks up
the theme again in his letter. The
problem though with light and transparency is that there is nowhere to hide our
failings, weaknesses and flaws in our character. Sin as the bible would call them. So if we were to walk in (His) light and have
fellowship with each other, we each will see one another’s faults and failings
as well as sins. Our, weaknesses and irritating parts of our nature
are exposed for all to see. Even
things that easily that annoy or anger others. Yet for John that is not a problem, for he goes on to say the blood of Jesus
absolves us of our sins. Cleanses, sanitizes.
For us though it is a serious issue.
A major problem, so we would
rather hide or cover up or as Jesus said “Men love darkness rather than light,” so that people don’t see us warts and all (Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of
light because their deeds were evil. John 3 v19) We even
deceive ourselves and say we have not done anything wrong at least not on this occasion. And not on any occasion for that matter. Or as
John says “if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is
not in us. BUT If
we confess ours, he will forgive us our sins.)
(are we not therefore required to
do likewise. 1 John 2
v6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.) John finishes chapter 1 with v10 If we claim we have
not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
If therefore I am to explore the difficulties I am experiencing
with the church these day. I must
start here with John’s letter. Looking
at myself. Looking to see what I have
done or doing wrong. The problem is, it is
very difficult to see your own flawed nature.
The things, the sins in me. It is much easier to say “I have done
nothing wrong.” “ It’s not me it’s the
others” Or as the mother said of her soldier
son on parade “Look. My little Johnny
is the only one in step”. In that
regard Johras window is a great model to express how both we and others see
ourselves..
No comments:
Post a Comment