...no sinning....and forgive everybody...

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. 4 Whoever says, ‘I have come to know him’, but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; 5 but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6 whoever says, ‘I abide in him’, ought to walk just as he walked” 1 John 2:1-6.

One of the things I love about John is that he has a heart for you and for me. This is why he writes words that are really a prayer for us all: “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin” (Verse 1). When I think about these words, is there anything in life more important that we could wish for one another besides this? Now, we could express this prayerful sentiment in many different ways. But, is this not what we wish for ourselves and for others? Oh that we could care so much for one another that we could wish each other a life apart from sin!

This sentiment, this hope, this prayer, is directly the sentiment Jesus spoke to us when He taught us how to pray: “…and for us us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us…”! In The Lord’s Prayer Jesus commands us — or begs us — to forgive each other. This is probably the hardest things we ever have to do! We hurt one another and we seem incapable of forgiving. So we walk away from relationships, life-long relationships. And all because we sin. We sin against another, and they refuse to forgive us, and instead they drop us like flies! Someone hurts us, and we walk away from them, sometimes for a lifetime.

And yet this what John is begging us not to do: “1 I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

John is telling us that Jesus knew we could not stop sinning and that we could not stop living our lives without forgiving. So Jesus atoned for our sins and for our unwillingness to forgive, and He did so on the Cross!

Let me tell you this: On the cross hung a sign that read: INRI. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. On the Cross and on that sign there was no asterisk! There were no exceptions for the atoning sacrifice Jesus made.

ALL HUMANITY WAS FORGIVEN!

And so it is for us too, to forgive EVERYONE! NO EXCEPTIONS! This is why John wrote to us. PERIOD! 

So today, take time and forgive everyone who has sinned against you and hurt you. Pray that God will forgive you and pray that you may not sin TODAY. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Today has enough worries of its own. Just pray that you will not sin today! Pray that you will forgive and forget!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.