The Apostle John has been sharing about the love of God that is so strong that He desires to have fellowship with every person. However, since man has a sinful nature and God is a holy and righteous God, there is separation from from God until something is done about the sinful nature. God has a plan to remove that sinful nature, as John declares in First John one verse nine:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
By confessing, turning away from, repenting of one's sins, the Heavenly Father immediately responds with what I call the divine eraser. First, God forgives sin. Every sin, missing of the mark, is against God. He gave the law, shared with Moses what the law was to be, and Jesus magnified the spirit of the law in His sermon on the mount. The law is God's law, and those who violate it in any point have broken all of it. Read what James the Apostle wrote in chapter two verse sixteen of his book:
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all.
So it may be that a person does really well in keeping one part of the law but violates it in another place, according to James, that person is guilty of breaking the whole law of God. This shows the importance of forgiveness, and when a person confesses his or her sins, God the Heavenly Father stands ready to forgive every sin.
Secondly, God stands ready to cleanse a person from their sins. It is one thing to forgive a person for their sins, it is quite another to cleanse them from them. Yet like a chalk board or white board that has been written all over with various mistakes, errors, wrongdoings and sins, the moment a person truly repents and turns from their sins, God takes His Divine eraser out and begins to wipe the board clean. Every sin, every mistake, every error and every wrongdoing is wiped away and fellowship is established with God. It's God's desire, and it's God's plan to forgive and remove violations against Him and His law that every person has committed to establish fellowship with Him.
There is one more lesson within this great verse, but we shall share about it tomorrow.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
Look for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, find locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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