1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life- 1:2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us- 1:3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1:4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (New King James Version)

Need of Forgiveness

A teacher gave her class of second-graders a lesson on the magnet and what it does. The next day, in a written test, she included this question: "My name has six letters. The first one is 'M'. I pick up things. What am I?" When the test papers were turned in, the teacher was astonished to find that almost 50 percents of the students answered the question with the word 'mother'. Yes, mothers do pick up things. They are gathering up clothes and picking up toys around the house. They always fix the problems that their children did, but they are seldom appreciated. We can think about God who fixes our misconduct through the role of mother to children.

We have been sinning since Adam had sinned. Adam and Eve condemned each other. Their son, Cain killed his brother. Sins, like lie, betrayal, murder, and negligence, spread among us n the blink of an eye. I don't mean that we became like beasts by saying "We became sinners." Since we became smart, we learned the ways to hide our sins. We sin in smarter way.

We say, "Little child is pure and sinless." Is it true? I think baby is the most selfish one. When he is hungry, he cries in anywhere. He cries when diaper is wet. He keep asking mom to hold him with her arms, and sleeps when he feels comfortable. If we live just to fill our desire, if we live just according our own feeling, it will be very low standard of living. You will say that it is ridiculous to adapt the standard of adults to babies. However, do we live still according our own feeling? Is the moral standard still based on what we like or dislike? Anyway, we hurt ourselves, destroy the relationship, family, society, and environment. Sometimes sin blows out at once, but usually it works behind the scenes and eats up gradually. It makes us its slaves while we think we are free from sin.

All of good things for our life come from God. Love, peace, and joy give us happy life. But sin separates us from God; the source of our happiness. Light and darkness never exist at the same time in the same place. Like that, God and sin never coexist. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." (1:6) As long as we have sin, we cannot reach God, even we seek His power earnestly. Isaiah says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth." (59:1-4)

Forgiveness by the Blood of Christ

How can the problem of sin be resolved? You already know that we can nothing for the solution. God sent us Jesus to resolve the problem of sin. "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." Jesus, Son of God, became a man, and shed his blood on the cross. We are sinners before the eyes of holy God. He gave his life for such sinners. In some case of crime, the rich or the one who has power may have the officials in his pocket. Smart guy may deceive people by his intelligence. But, God knows everything. God has full knowledge and full power. Our power or our education cannot hide our sins before the almighty and omniscient God. Our moral works or religious efforts never redeems our sin. Only the blood shed by Jesus saves us from sin.

By the way, I was so blessed while I was cleaning the grill of heater. I had a heating system just beside the entrance hall and the grill of a ventilation opening faced to the entrance hall at the former rental home. After moved to the house, I saw a lot of dust there and begun to clean it. I was wiping with a rag made of old white T-shirts. As the grill became cleaner, the became dirty. The rag was became broken. As I saw the rag, I could imagine that Jesus absorbed our dirty stain of sin like a rag. He received our sin and the punishment on the cross. He became sin though He was sinless one, and He saved us from sin. I could meditate 2 Corinthians 5:21 while I was working for clean-up. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." The forgiveness came from the cross.

The Way of Forgiveness

Then, how can we receive his forgiveness? How can we taste the joy of forgiveness. Admit your sin, and confess it. It is the way of forgiveness. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We tend to deny our sins. We may excuse for our sins. But there is no way to be forgiven without admitting our sin. If a patient deny and live as he likes saying, "I'm okay. I need no medication, no physician," nobody can save his life. To confess means to say the same thing in the original language. While you make excuse to God who points out our sins, you never confess your sin. Pray to God saying, "I have sinned just as you pointed. I hate sin. I regret it. I really want to leave from it. However, I can nothing by myself. Forgive me and clean me from sin by the blood of Jesus." This is true confession of sin.

The Bible says, "He is faithful and just." I did not understand how the faithful and just God can forgive sin for a long time. I thought that God cannot forgive single sin of us, if He is just. However God's characters of faithfulness and justice are the reason of forgiveness. God is faithful to the promise that He will forgive our sins through Jesus. God is faithful. His faithfulness never changes. So, his forgiveness is secured to us who repent our sins and believe in Jesus. God is called the Father, but God's love is really sensible love like mother who pick up everything. By the love, God gives us His forgiveness.

Prayer

Our heavenly Father, when we confess saying, "I believe in the holy catholic church; the communion of saints," we also believe in "the forgiveness of sins" following the Apostles' Creed. Because the communion of saints does not mean the fellowship with no sins, but the fellowship of Christians who admit the sins, confess them, seek to be forgiven by you, to forgiveness each other. We seek holiness as well as we seek to accept each other. Allow us to live in your forgiveness. Keep us walking in your light. We pray in the precious name of Jesus who shed His blood for us.