If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us. – 1 John 1:8-10
In sixty-five words, the Apostle John conveys a great deal of essential truth. He’s not just talking, and he’s not old, senile, and repetitive. There is a difference between “we have no sin” and “we have not sinned” that goes beyond grammatical constructions.
We have been talking about light as the nature of God, and of us as His children. As Walt said yesterday, blindness to our own faults makes it more difficult to love one another. The demonic sin is pride, but the foundation of sin, or perhaps the foundational sin is a lack of love, first for God and then for our brothers and sisters. We have to turn the light of God’s truth upon our lives and acknowledge what we see. Everything exposed by the light is made clear (Ephesians 5:13). That is the purpose of light, to expose and make clear that we might address it and confess it.
I need only open to one of the Gospel accounts and meditate upon some of the more difficult sayings of Jesus, like the Sermon on the Mount, or upon His acts of compassion, or His Passion to see divine love, and to see that I come up short. Even if I have not acted upon evil and “sinned”, it is clear that the “sin” is present in my impulse and motivation.
I am one of those who believe that the entire human race was separated from the Creator and unable to have any communion with Him whatsoever. I also believe that Jesus, by His death on the cross, reconciled to God the entire human race – past, present, and future, as well as the rest of creation through us. The only thing keeping any person separated from the Father is the refusal to acknowledge that we are separated and need to be reconciled. It is the refusal to recognize that my ‘I am’ is not enough. Once we confess to our Father that He is right, that we need to be connected to Him, just that instant we find ourselves reconciled, going the right direction, and connected. The Cross makes it all possible for everyone.
That’s John’s first sentence. Let’s stop deceiving ourselves, get the revelation, and be reconciled.
But then there is everyday stuff, the conflicts, the failures, the insensitivity, the selfishness, bitterness, vengefulness, etc. It does no good to deny it and try to cover it up. It won’t go away. In fact, if we deny it, we are in effect calling the Lord a liar.
Some of us have had experiences in childhood that were hard to deal with – rejection, neglect, abuse. Maybe our parents were simply less than perfect. We get strange ideas. We get twisted. We go to government schools. We end up with flaky friends. We get involved in cults or near-cults. We repeatedly do stupid things that keep us in bondage.
How do we break free and live in liberty? We confess our sins, and, just as important, we accept God forgiveness. He is faithful and righteous [or just] to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us…. Our Father obligates Himself. The forgiveness and cleansing are ready and waiting for us if we will simply admit that we’re doing wrong and can’t seem to stop. And it is not limited. Jesus told Peter to forgive seventy times seven. Will God do less? In Lamentations Jeremiah assured us that God’s mercies are new every morning.
I don’t care how many times I have to go back and confess the same stupid thing, I know the Lord will not reject me, nor will He refuse to set me free. I’m not saying it won’t be painful in some cases. Some chains Father broke and I hardly knew it happened. Others, well, He is just about going to have to take my hand off in the process.
Mediate on Scripture and address those things the Holy Spirit brings to mind. Do not be distracted by symptoms, but look for root causes. My bondage is often rooted in my own lack of forgiveness. I cannot receive the Father’s forgiveness while I am holding something against a brother, or even against God Himself.
9 comments:
You know, I'm so thrilled. I actually have lurkers. OK, maybe it's more like lurker, but anyway I'm glad you're out there. For that reason, I'm not going to throw this up as a post.
I'm kind of a writing implement geek. My all-time favorite writing implement is a mustard-colored Pentel P209 mechanical pencil. I also have a maroon Pentel P205 which I use a lot. The P205 was given to me by my old boss, Susie, but I'd like it even it didn't have sentimental value. If you are worried, let me put your mind at ease that even though I was given a Pentel by a coder of the female persuasion, nothing happened between us. Our relationship was purely business-platonic.
The difference, if you happen not to be a complete and utter nerd, between a P209 and a P205 is the diameter of the lead used -- 0.9mm versus the more common 0.5mm. That's why I usually opt for the P209 -- the thicker lead does not break under my heavy hand. I like the fine line of the 0.5mm, but I pop them frequently.
When it comes to ink, I am a big fan of the Pentel RSVP pen, in fine or medium tips. I have a mug full in various colors. For pocket carry (no, I don't have pocket protector), I like the BIC Atlantis retractable. But my new favorite is the Pilot G-2 07 retractable. It has a reasonably fine tip coupled with a good gel ink. It writes very smoothly, but without the messiness of other gel inks I've tried. Not only does it not create blobs, but it dries quickly enough that I get few smears. I haven't had it long enough to do torture tests or try it in extreme conditions of heat, cold, or humidity. One has to be a little careful on slick surfaces. On the glossy surface of my Midway USA flyer, I could get smears for a couple of minutes, though the initial writing was clear and distinct. It seems to do OK on typical card stock, if a little patience is used.
So, that's my review of pens and now you know I have no life.
No worries, Mushroom. Here, there are pictures (I just googled the pens, so surf the sites at your own risk).
For non-clumping non-smearing gel pens (with waterproof ink, so your checks can't be washed, for instance), I really like the Uniball Signo 207 series.
"...You don't have to be a clinical psychologist to know that the average person is at cross-purposes with himself because he is inhabited by various alter-egos with differing agendas, which we call mind parasites. Mind parasites generally operate unconsciously, while the conscious mind makes excuses for them in order to confer a spurious sense of unity upon the self -- a coherent narrative.
"But this narrative is always a lie (more or less), as it is in the service of mind parasites, not Truth."
Thus spake The B'ob, today at OC. Is what he says there "how it is"? Is he describing "average" people, and not also addressing us? Hmmm...
His quote does not contradict anything you wrote, nor am I trying to. But let's say, when I, for example, epitomize Bob's quote one way or another, to one degree or another, I probably lack the capacity to retain or contain any of the points you bring up. At those times, I project my internals onto the world, much as your lady friend did re her late husband. This may not qualify as "sin," but it's at least B-I-G E-R-R-O-R.
While that sort of thing proceeds, I don't have the capacity to relate to anyone properly -- how much less God? What part of me can receive Grace then?
I know the answers to those questions; my question is "Can we do it?" I'm simply amplifying on the details of what stops us.
Your posts always provoke ideas, and connections.
I'm not the only pen nut in the world. That's good to know.
Thanks for the links, Julie.
I read that, and kind of had the same reaction. I don't think a mind parasites can stay out of sight -- either of the Spirit of God or of us if we are willing to look beyond the symptoms.
I was once in court-ordered anger management. Did I have an anger problem? Of course, but I had an anger problem because I had a mind parasite. Getting hauled off in the back of a cop car wearing two sets of handcuffs was a clue that something was amiss.
I had a choice -- I could either blame somebody else, which would have been really easy to do. That SOB had it coming, believe me. The other choice was to ask what was going on inside -- why did I get so angry -- why did I let that get out of hand -- why didn't I just walk away?
What I've been talking about this week is the Nature of God, as all good and light. But He is also able to bring those mind parasites out in front of us where we have the option -- and it's always an option -- of facing them or closing our eyes.
It's sometimes, as in my case, like the old Jerry Clowers story where he said they always gave the coon a sporting chance. They might "knock 'im out amongst 20 dogs, but the coon always had the option of whuppin' all them dogs and walkin' off."
Sometimes it really is easier to face the truth.
I don't think the Spirit will allow us to be completely without understanding of our bondage. I don't believe a mind parasite is more powerful than Christ in us. Unless we have said, I know I can have Christ and freedom, or the parasite, and then chosen the parasite. Strangely people do that. Sometimes it's bad teaching -- as in thinking we've gone to far. Sometimes it's just arrogance.
Bob's intelligence and erudition is lightyears beyond mine, but I think he's coming at it from a different perspective. He is better acquainted with the extremes, you might say.
But even in those cases where people are too far gone to help themselves, God has provided people like Bob to help lead them out and reveal these parasitic patterns to them.
He's always got an answer.
Ooow. The Uniball does look nice.
Pens. I used to love 'em. When I was doing the Celtic patterns the last nerve wracking step before coloring was to take a rapidograph, and trace the final pencil drawing on to a clean sheet of bristol board. No errors permitted. Nerve wracking fun.
When I was teaching, even in the nineties, I had to keep a hand scribed roll book. The system for attendance and grading worked OK, but it could have been developed in ancient Egypt. I used to use an Itoya disposable rapido for my clerical duties.
On to more serious stuff, your work here is having an effect on me. If Bob's work opened my eyes, your is bringing the vision into focus. There is a kind of magnetism to this Jesus business. I think feeling that magnetism, and being frightened of it is what causes many cases of the Jesus Willies. It is still scary. But now I feel that magnetic draw, and it pulls my mind into the mystery. Your work here amplifies the current.
JWM
Thanks, John. I appreciate it. As Walt and I have discussed, what we do is create grids, where your thoughts can be assembled.
You do the same thing in a quality of life direction -- I can't really explain how pictures of toy robots have that effect along with stories about surfing, motorcycles, or Stephen King Elementary, but they do.
The same is true for Robin and Julie, QP, and everybody I'm forgetting. Bob Agard will get me started thinking. I find Sal enlightening even though I have no understanding of what she's talking about -- in terms of spinning and costume-making -- it is alien technology to me.
And look at Rick. He is obviously a far better writer than say John Grisham. I don't know if he is a better writer in a technical sense than Dan Brown, but he a lot closer to the truth, so it seems like Rick is much better. The only reason I even question it is because Dan Brown was like an English professor or something.
The raccoons are an amazing bunch.
Speaking of Dan Brown, I have only read one of his books Digital Fortress and not seen any of his movies. Based on what I have read, the guy is an idiot. First, he has a professional assassin using a revolver with a silencer. Second he has a room full of geeks that don't know the answer to very simple mathematical questions. Third, he has a supposedly brilliant female mathematician and code-breaker who isn't smart enough to work backward from a standard greeting and figure out that "without wax" means sincere (I will admit that I have specialized knowledge, having taken a Greek Culture class at Mizzou -- they may not have those at Yale or Cornell or wherever the chick in the book went to school). Fourth he has the main bad guy fly the hero to Spain to have him knocked off. It would have made far more sense not to involve the good guy in the big issue and just have a hitman take him out at home, making it look like a carjacking gone bad or something.
That's all I can think of at the moment. My daughter -- who had recommended Digital Fortress to me -- was a little miffed when I started rattling all that off. "I thought you'd like it because it's about computers."
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