As I was looking for a picture for this post, God's sense of humor hit me hard when I saw the hot air balloons. John list five, "If we...then..." Three of these are hot air while the other two we need to add to our bearings.
Now to get rid of the hot air balloons. First one is, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." This is those that go to church on Sunday but the rest of the week they live and act like the world. Or they are the ones going around doing good deeds, helping others yet they don't believe that God exists. It is sad to say they are living a lie because they are acting the part of a Christian but never really believed in their heart that Jesus is Lord.
The next hot air balloon is, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.". Ever get caught with your hand in the cookie jar and try to lie your way out of it? There is no way around it just look at Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”. That 3 letter word all pretty well says it. No one is without sin. We can lie all we want about why we were in the cookie jar it doesn't change the facts. The only person that is being deceived is ourselves as to why we try to justify why we did what we did.
The last hot air balloon happens to be the ugliest balloon. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” We can lie to others and ourselves about being a Christian. We can try to deceive ourselves about what we did and why it wasn't a sin. To say that we have NEVER sinned that is a different story. To say that we are saying to God that Romans 2:23, doesn't apply to us. We are not a part of the ALL in that verse. We are calling God a liar and saying that 1 John 1:5 is false because God lied so there is darkness in Him. We clearly have no understanding of the Bible at this point.
Those 3 hot air balloons make life seem hopeless. However, tucked in between those balloons is our bearings to get away from them. Our first bearing is, "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." We know that His Word is a light to the path in which we walk, says so in Psalm 119:105. I love Judges 5:31, and what it says about those who walk with God; "But let those who love Him be like the sun When it comes out in full strength.” I want to be like the sun at full strength. That is the noonday sun, which doesn't cast a shadow because it is right overhead, during the summer it creates a thirst, and is healing.
Our second bearing around those hot air balloons is, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Life is not hopeless. God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. The thing is He is not going to do so without some action on our part. We must come to Him and confess our sins to Him. This is the part I like best, those cookie crumbs with the chocolate that are stuck to you hands and maybe in the corner of you mouth, He has the perfect thing that will clean them off of you. You can't get rid of them by wiping them onto your clothes, they are still on you. Only through the blood of Jesus can we be made clean.
Now to get rid of the hot air balloons. First one is, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." This is those that go to church on Sunday but the rest of the week they live and act like the world. Or they are the ones going around doing good deeds, helping others yet they don't believe that God exists. It is sad to say they are living a lie because they are acting the part of a Christian but never really believed in their heart that Jesus is Lord.
The next hot air balloon is, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.". Ever get caught with your hand in the cookie jar and try to lie your way out of it? There is no way around it just look at Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”. That 3 letter word all pretty well says it. No one is without sin. We can lie all we want about why we were in the cookie jar it doesn't change the facts. The only person that is being deceived is ourselves as to why we try to justify why we did what we did.
The last hot air balloon happens to be the ugliest balloon. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” We can lie to others and ourselves about being a Christian. We can try to deceive ourselves about what we did and why it wasn't a sin. To say that we have NEVER sinned that is a different story. To say that we are saying to God that Romans 2:23, doesn't apply to us. We are not a part of the ALL in that verse. We are calling God a liar and saying that 1 John 1:5 is false because God lied so there is darkness in Him. We clearly have no understanding of the Bible at this point.
Those 3 hot air balloons make life seem hopeless. However, tucked in between those balloons is our bearings to get away from them. Our first bearing is, "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." We know that His Word is a light to the path in which we walk, says so in Psalm 119:105. I love Judges 5:31, and what it says about those who walk with God; "But let those who love Him be like the sun When it comes out in full strength.” I want to be like the sun at full strength. That is the noonday sun, which doesn't cast a shadow because it is right overhead, during the summer it creates a thirst, and is healing.
Our second bearing around those hot air balloons is, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Life is not hopeless. God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. The thing is He is not going to do so without some action on our part. We must come to Him and confess our sins to Him. This is the part I like best, those cookie crumbs with the chocolate that are stuck to you hands and maybe in the corner of you mouth, He has the perfect thing that will clean them off of you. You can't get rid of them by wiping them onto your clothes, they are still on you. Only through the blood of Jesus can we be made clean.