Gospel Living in 2026
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”
Today’s Text: 1 John 1:1-10 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
Every true believer must know that each and every one of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This passage goes further and says that sin continues to be with us. If we deny this fact, we are not really saved, because we have not accepted the gospel of truth that saves us. And so the Apostle John urges us to confess our sins continually.
But even though every true believer accepts those truths in our heads, many have not accepted those truths in our hearts. And when I say “true believer,” I mean those who are saved. Anyway, I mention the disconnect between head and heart, because we all struggle with a certain sinful attitude that the sins of others are more deserving of punishment than ours. Until we can comprehend the gravity of our own sins, and the offense they are to God, we cannot really experience the freedom and the power of the gospel that saves us.
For some, it is easy for them to recognize the sin in their lives. But for so many, because of recurring sins, it feels impossible for them to know the power of God’s mercy in their lives. And some of those may even feel like they are not saved, even though they believe in their heads the historical propositions of the Bible: Jesus is the Son of God. He died for all of our sins. He was resurrected to eternal life. He will return again to reign on the earth. God will make all things right with a new heaven and new earth.
They are trapped in a gospel of moralism that is not the true gospel of grace. Most of the time, they are depending on themselves to earn the salvation that Jesus offers freely. Either that or else they might think that they are not one of the predestined elect.
The sin in the human heart that Jesus overcame once and for all on the cross may be characterized as follows: When someone wrongs us, we feel justified in wronging them in return. And that cycle tends to escalate and escalate.
That is the sin that Jesus defeated on the cross once and for all. And when we experience the power and freedom of WHAT HE DID FOR US ONCE AND FOR ALL, we will see no need to reciprocate the wrong actions and words that someone has committed against us with more wrong actions and words against them.
We might wonder (I have wondered) why there are so many broken people in the church, if we are supposed to be a community of the redeemed. I’ve come to the conclusion that God wants us to learn from His word and practice with one another what it means to experience the freedom and the power of the cross and WHAT CHRIST DID FOR US ONCE AND FOR ALL.
I want to experience that freedom and power in greater measure in 2026. I know that we all do.
Father, Your way is the only way to life. You have sent Your Son to defuse the destructive power of sin in our lives. Help us to know Your love, know Your forgiveness for ourselves and for others, so that we might live in Your power. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
