I don’t know anyone who likes to fail, but we all do. We started out as failures! What happened the first time we tried to walk? We fell down! Ride a bike? How about the first time we tried to swim? Some of us never came up!
No, everyone fails! The critical thing is what we do after we fail.
If you are a serious Christian, your passion is to be like Jesus. But you discovered early on that the gap between passion and perfection is pretty big! What should a Christian do when he/she fails to live up to God’s will? The Apostle John gives us the answer!
I John is a letter to Christians. John’s emphasis is on fellowship with God; on being an intimate partner and friend with God. In this epistle, John shares the ins and outs of what real fellowship with the Lord looks like. I’d like for us to focus on I John 1:5-2:2, which deals with Conditions for Fellowship with God.
In verses 5-7 John writes that our standard is living in the light of God’s will:
“ This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him, there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another [with God], and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
John’s point is this: If we say we’re intimate with God yet walk continually and deliberately in disobedience to Him, we are lying hypocrites. “God is light,” writes John. As light, He reveals to us right and wrong. To maintain our fellowship with Him, we are to respond to that light continually; we are to be open, honest, and sincere about where we are. The standard we are to conform to is the light God sheds on our path, day by day, through His Word and the promptings of His Spirit.
Here’s the reality — and the heart of God revealed: Though we choose to “walk in the light” we are still stumbling whether we know it or not! John says the blood of Jesus is constantly flowing and cleansing the obedient Christian so that his fellowship with God is not hindered, the power can still flow, and ministry can still take place!
For 27 years I drove a 1970 Datsun pickup. One day, suddenly and unexpectedly, it began to sputter and jerk down the road as if it was running out of gas. I couldn’t understand what was wrong: The gas gauge indicated I had plenty of fuel; I kept the truck in top mechanical shape; I ran high quality fuel in it. Well, after tinkering around for a while I discovered the problem: The fuel filter was plugged!
All gasoline has contaminants — even Chevron! The only thing that keeps a vehicle running smoothly is the fuel filter. It screens out particles we can’t even see! So it is with the blood of Jesus: it filters out impurities we are unaware of so we can continue in our walk and service for Christ.
When it becomes clear to us we’ve failed God, ourselves, or someone we love, our response should be confession. Confession is more than admitting a sin. The word confess means to say the same thing about sin that God does. True confession is naming sin — calling it, by name — whatever God calls it: envy, hatred, lying, lusting, deceit, pride, etc. Confession is simply being honest with ourselves and with God — and if others are involved, being honest with them, too, about what we have done.
As we confess our sins to God, we can count on Him to keep His word! He said faith in His Son would justify us in His sight, and so we stand forgiven (Ephesians 1:7; Romans 3:21-24).
The forgiveness John is talking about has nothing to do with our salvation! He’s talking about familial forgiveness, like a son going to his father to ask forgiveness for some offense. His position in the family is not in jeopardy — only intimacy with his dad.
God’s loving forgiveness includes purification from all unrighteousness — the sins we’re not conscious of. Therefore, we have no need to agonize over sins of which we are consciously unaware.
Knowing the blood of Christ continues to filter out the bad, and growing in our daily obedience to the Lord, can lead to getting cocky about our walk with God:
“Boy, I haven’t sinned for hours … all day!”
To this John writes, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (v. 8). Just because we’re not conscious of failure doesn’t mean we’re free from it!
When it becomes clear to us we’ve failed God, ourselves, or someone we love, what should our response be? Some folks …
- tend to wallow in self-condemnation
- are flippant: “Oh well…”
- blame somebody else for their failure
- say “It’s too late now!”
- resign to “What’s the use? How many people in this world ever change? I’m kidding myself to think there’s hope for me.”
What can happen if we don’t confess sin as it is revealed? Well, what happens when we don’t work through our grievances with each other? The walls go up! The longer we put off dealing with it the higher and thicker the wall gets. Have you ever tried to unscramble an egg? The longer you wait to deal with something the deeper into trouble you get. It’s like cancer.
Perhaps the following true story will shed light on what I mean. A friend of mine told me about his dad’s cancer which began as a small spot on his nose. He refused to have it removed. Being cancerous it continued to grow, eventually eating off his nose — then his face. He hid his face under the sheets when Scott (my friend) would come over to see him. It eventually took his life.
As difficult as it might be for you now if God is showing you something that’s out of line, deal with it; stick with it until you get the answers you need, and take the necessary steps. It won’t / can’t get better; things will only get more complicated and complex the longer you wait.