1 Peter 1:22a (NLT) -“You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth…”

1 John 1:7-9 (NLT) - “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

“The blood that flowed from Jesus’ body as he hung on the cross was… the very lifeblood of God himself, poured out to deal with sins in the way that all the animal sacrifices in the world could never do.
“And that blood, that sacrificial death, that God-life given on our behalf and in our place, is available for all who ‘walk in the light.’ That doesn’t mean we have to get our act together, morally speaking, before God can do anything. What it means is that when we consciously turn to the light - when we face up to what’s gone wrong in the past and don’t try to hide it, and when we are determined to live that way from now on - two things happen. First, we find ourselves sharing that intimate God-life, not only with God himself, but with one another. Second, we find that Jesus’ blood… makes us clean, pure and fresh inside. It deals with the nasty stain, the residual dirtiness, the scratchy, ugly feeling that something went badly wrong and we can’t get rid of it. All that is gone when we turn to the light and start to walk in it. All because of Jesus” (Wright, N.T. The Early Christian Letters for Everyone - James, Peter, John, and Judah. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).

This reality of being cleansed from our sins is another important evidence of a new life in Christ. It is a reality that we, who have been cleansed when we believed, can and should experience on an ongoing basis, until we see Him.

Let’s memorize 1 John 1:9 - “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

While doing so, let’s prayerfully proclaim this truth over our lives, our relationships, our church, and our world. Let’s ask God that we will live in the light, have fellowship with one another, and experience this continued cleansing from God.

-BR