Aug. 4

Read 1 John 1

"^8-10If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we've never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God." (The Message)

Most of us would consider ourselves to be basically good people. On a scale from good to bad we would not place ourselves completely at the top of the good scale but we would consider ourselves better than most. It isn't that we don't see our own faults and short comings but we see other's sins so clearly. This way we can justify our smaller sins by saying they are not as bad as someone else's. After all if we aren't robbing banks the paper supplies that we are "borrowing" from the office really aren't a problem. Because we haven't hurt someone physically the gossip that we are spreading behind their backs doesn't really reflect upon who we are.
The problem with this very real mind set is that, as John says, we are fooling ourselves. Jesus is very clear in the teaching we have in the Gospels that sin is sin. There is no scale that God grades upon. Sin does one of two things; it damages our relationship with other people or it keeps us from fully becoming the person God desires us to be, both of which keep us from experiencing God's living presence in our daily lives.
So John says we should confess our sins. Which really means that we examine our lives and recognize where we fall short, name things for what they are, and ask God for forgiveness and the opportunity to do better the next time. Most of the time we can do this confession and repentance in our daily prayers (in the evening before going to sleep is a good time to examine your day) but sometimes we need to find a person to do this with. We need to hear the words "You are forgiven" come from the mouth of someone who knows us. This is one of the roles of the priesthood of all believers. That we hear the confession and offer the forgiveness that our brothers and sisters in faith need to hear.

Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:

• If you were to put yourself on a sliding scale of sinners where would you place yourself?
• Why do you think we need to find people who appear to be "worse" than we are to make ourselves feel better?
• How comfortable are you in confessing your sins to God? to someone else?
• Take time to name 3 things that you have done in the last 24 hours that have hurt your relationship with someone else or kept you from fulling becoming the person God wants you to become. Spend time in prayer or in conversation with someone you trust asking for God's forgiveness in these things.