Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, June 29, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I don’t think anyone gets to a place where they “may not sin.” I don’t subscribe to the notion that human beings are evil at their core due to some flaw in creation. God created us good, beautiful, fully embodied and fully spiritual. But, for whatever reason, we are also imperfect. We fall prey to instincts which, in their correct proportion, are helpful and life-giving, but which, when indulged beyond their original intent, drive us to hurt one another. We fall prey to fears which, again, probably arose from our primitive survival instincts, but which now drive us to take actions that are not life-giving for us or anyone else. So it’s not a matter of “if anyone does sin” but rather “when we sin” that we can take great comfort in knowing that we have an advocate in Jesus. Jesus gets it completely. Gets us. Was us. Stands with and for us. Went to hell and back for us. There is absolutely nothing we can do that Jesus cannot and does not forgive us for, that will make Jesus stop loving us. Not that we should sin flagrantly, but that we should always be grateful to know that our imperfections are not who we are, but just something we do, and something that can be fundamentally changed in us without diminishing our character or personality. Jesus does this for us.
Do I feel that I can be forgiven for absolutely anything I have done?
