“Did I do thayat?!” If you have every watched the show, Family Matters, you can almost hear Steve Urkel say those words right after he lost his balance, and fell and smushed a cake and destroyed the coffee table, or as he propels one of his inventions through the Winslow family window. On the show it is funny.
But the sad thing is that many people treat sin in their lives with the same attitude that Steve Urkel has about his mishaps. People will find any way to get our of blaming themselves for their sin. Oh, and believe me, we are good at it. I was watching a show on TV once where they were interviewing people who had murdered and were on death row. This one guy blamed everyone. He blamed his father for abuse. He blamed his mother for not caring enough. He blamed three of his friends that “talked him into” robbing a store (he didn’t kill the person during the robbery, but later while he was in jail). He blamed the courts because they put him in a maximum security prison with a violent atmosphere instead of in a lower level institution. He blamed prison. He blamed the guards for not keeping the place safe for him. He blamed a man that he stuck a knife into and killed, because the man said something or took his drugs. . . . . You get the picture. Not once did the guy say that he was wrong and that he had sinned.
But real believers are not like. You and I must come to the place where we admit our sin, and realize that it is that very sin that Jesus died for. We need to realize that our heart is sinful, and we choose actions and thoughts every day that violate God’s best for us. And we need to be honest with God and agree with what He says about our sin. That is what “confess your sin” in your memory verse means. Confessing sin means to agree with God about it, that it is wrong, it has broken your relationship with God, and only God can forgive it.
John is teaching us that the first test of a life-changing faith is a transformed attitude about our sin. When we experience Jesus, His glory shines and reveals the broken nature of our lives, and the deep darkness in our souls. Without Christ, we rationalize sin and find ways to justify the wickedness in our hearts. But when we experience Jesus deeply we will begin to see our sin through his eyes. We will realize that sin is a deep offense to the greatness, glory, and holiness of God. We will realize that our sin is what cost Jesus his life, and that sin is the deep barrier that keeps us from experiencing God and fullness in life.
But what a deal. When I confess my sin, God forgives. That very instant! Wow! One of the first things God will do in your life when you receive Christ is that He will change your attitude about sin. You will no longer want to act like Steve Urkel, and deny your sin. Instead, you will be honest with God and confess your sin. Has your attitude about sin changed?