As we venture through the book of First John in the Bible, we are discovering that God desires fellowship with people. He created them, made them, and enjoys the company of men and women. We have discovered how much He truly loves us and desires to be with us so much so that He removed by Jesus Christ the barrier of sin that kept us from having a relationship with Him. Today John speaks specifically of one of the reasons that he is writing to us, and it is verbalized in chapter two verse twelve:
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
Notice first that John addresses those who are known as “little children”. When a person first becomes “born again” he or she is spiritually much like a little child. At this point the greatest part of being a Christian is that your sins are forgiven. There may not be a lot of knowledge about the Bible, theology, or other facets of the scriptures, but there is a knowledge that “sins are forgiven.” What a joy, what an inspiration it is just to realize that no matter how horrible, how bad, how atrocious a life has been, Jesus stands able and is ready to forgive sins. Just having this knowledge gives life and peace to the empty soul.
Secondly, notice why “your sins are forgiven” is important, “for his name's sake.” It's because of his name's sake that sin is forgiven. God gets the credit for the removal of sin from a person's life. Self-help, life developmental programs, pathways to positive thinking and the like will never remove sin. The reason is simply because the credit or the glory goes to another other than God. If I can help myself, I have no need for God, but therein lies the problem, I can only help myself to a limited degree. God knows this, and He will allow me to discover this and walk in this manner until I realize that His help is needed. My sins, your sins can and will be forgiven, and all the glory for their removal goes to God alone.
There is more in the next verse that alludes to spiritual growth, but we shall take that up on another occasion.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
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