Key Verse: 1 John 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.” I have found that the hardest person for me to forgive is usually myself. Over time I can forgive others, but sometimes I hold grudges against myself for my past sins. In 1 John 2:1 John reminds us of an essential truth for the Christian life. He also tells us that one of the purposes of this letter is so that people will stop sinning. However, John knows that this is not really possible. The Greek word translated as ‘and’ in this context is probably better translated as ‘but’ as the CSB translates it. John knows and understands that we are going to fall short, we are going to sin. Despite this inevitability our goal should always be to be sin free. But what happens when we sin? Are without hope? NO!! John says that when or if we fall short, we have advocate. What is an advocate? An advocate is someone who argues your case, takes a stand on your behalf. It’s similar to a lawyer. Who is our advocate? It’s Jesus! He advocates on our behalf with the Father. He tells the Father that He died for our sins and the sin that we just committed is covered by His shed blood on the cross. We are forgiven by our faith in that act. Jesus the righteous one is the only one worthy to be our advocate because no one else can approach the father do to the way sin has tainted their life. Friends if God can forgive our sins, shouldn’t we be able to forgive ourselves for our past sins? God is greatest being in the universe. He is the most holy, righteous, and perfect being in existence. Yet, he forgives us. If the most righteous being in the universe forgives us, shouldn’t we be able to forgive ourselves? Absolutely! Stop living in your past sins, and start living in the forgiveness of Jesus and start living for Him today!
