TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NKJV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Yesterday, I tried to sweep the kitchen with a puppy in it. It was as effective a task as one would expect. In fact, I would compare it to the equivalent of trying to brush your teeth while eating Oreos. Audrey fought against the broom the entire time.
I started to think about how similar I can be with the Lord. He’s trying to clean things up in my life, and I’m tugging on the broom.
There’s a misunderstanding that becoming a Christian means everything will be perfect. We’ve been forgiven, so we won’t have to worry about sin anymore.
I wish.
We may be forgiven, but we still have sinful natures. We will be fighting that until we are with Jesus in heaven. The good news, while we’re here on earth, the Lord does begin to work on us. He loves us too much to leave us how He found us. He wants to clean up our lives and begin making changes to point us in the direction of righteousness. Of course, He wants us to be active participants in His efforts.
First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But let’s turn to the verses before and after our signature verse…
Verse 8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
To become a Christian, we have to (had to) start from a place of humility, agreeing with Christ that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We cannot recognize our need for Jesus without acknowledging our sins and being repentant.
Verse 10: If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
The world wants us to believe we are pretty good compared to others… But that’s a lie. We may sin differently than others, but we’re all sinners. It reminds me of one of my very biggest pet peeves… that popular self-help quote that is meant to inspire, but deceives many: “You are enough.”
No, you’re not. I’m not either. If any of us were enough, none of us would need Jesus. And every single one of us needs Him. That saying gets under my skin so badly, especially since it’s a lie that has even creeped into Christian culture.
To say “you are enough” implies that you’re fine exactly the way you are. And you’re not. We are not enough on our own to get into heaven. That is why Jesus died for us. The “you are enough” lie has a hidden implication that Jesus and His word are optional.
But Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). If Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, there’s nothing in there that says “I am enough.” It’s a pretty direct statement. And you either believe it, or you don’t.
So my questions today are these: when it comes to cleaning up your life, are you helping the Lord? Are you giving Him permission to get into the corners of your life to sweep up the sinful things that need to be changed? Or are you pulling on His broom and resisting His efforts?
Today, as you pray, invite Jesus to clean you. It’s a daily process. After all, we can’t sweep our kitchens once, and think we are done forever. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? But crumbs and spills happen, and we need to clean. And just like we need our kitchen attended to daily, we need Jesus to search us daily, and we need to be willing to let Him clean us, even allowing Him to reach into the deepest corners of our lives, and keep making us more like Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the courage to say, “I am not enough. I need You to keep changing me and cleaning me to be more like You.”
SHARING ••• My Grace-Full Life is written by Denise Heidel. You are welcome to share anything I write, but please credit my writing and graphics accordingly. Visit www.MyGraceFullLife.com to read past blogs. Subscribe through my website to have My Grace-Full Life delivered to your email. You can unsubscribe at any time. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the NKJV translation.
