Thoughts on Sin

Lately, God's led me to meditate on and study one of my least favorite books of the Bible. It's full of all kinds of stuff I get excited about and then there's the stuff that so unsettling it makes you want to flip the page. 1 John.

“If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation of our sins; and not ours only, but also for those of the whole world. Wow! Fantastic! Praise God!

But what do you do with the following verse?

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Or

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

Or

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

The suspected author of this Epistle was John. It was believed to be written later in his life to be read to mature believers in Christian churches. So it is to us, specifically. Many people breeze through these verses and say, “well I don’t steal, kill, hit my wife, thank God that’s not talking about me”. But how about these sins?
Neglecting seeking God will all your heart and time.
Loving everyone (even the ones that hate and violate you).
Pride and self-centeredness.
It’s all sin, and in God’s eyes all the same.
Woof! Contemplate that!

Some have said, myself included, “Oh that, yeah I probably shouldn’t have done or said that. But it didn’t hurt anyone, and God has forgiven me.” God says that we despise Him when we make a conscience decision to do what we know isn’t right. 2 Sam 12:10 Even though it wasn’t directed at the Lord, we despise him. That’s heavy on me.
When we listen to that dirty joke instead of walking away, it Despises Him.
When we don’t open the Bible but zone out watching garbage on TV, it Despises Him.
When we don’t want to put out the effort to believe for your headache to go away and you just pop an Advil because it is easy, it Despises Him.
When we’re tired and we stay home on a Wednesday night instead of coming to fellowship with other believers and support your pastor, it Despises Him.
When you feel that urge in your spirit to pray for someone and you don’t, it Despises Him.
Heavy!

“Repent (change) from failing to do what you know is right.” And John says if you fail to meet the mark, Jesus is our advocate and that believers have eternity in Him, but my heart drops when I read that He is not in us when we mess up, or that we don't know him if we do. Jesus defined eternal life as "That we may know or have personal intimacy with the Father and Jesus". And John says if we knew Him, we wouldn't have missed it in the first place. I don't have revelation about this entirely, but I know that I want to KNOW THE FATHER and CHRIST JESUS. And I definitely want Jesus to know me. If this doesn't lay heavy on you, you are better man than I.

“Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, drove out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name, didn’t we?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who practice evil!’”

Heavy! Thank God for Grace and that there is an advocate in Jesus with the Father, but you can't just ignore this. It came straight from the lips of Jesus, and this time not even in a riddle, it is pretty clear cut! We can't lay down our grace card and believe there is no consequence for sin.
If you are mature in Christ and still continue to do what you know is wrong, you need to question how well you know Christ and consider if He really knows you. Ouch! That's smarts!