1 John 1: 1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus* and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.7 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. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.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.10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
1 John 2: 1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. 3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.4 If someone claims, "I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.5 But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
So many people I know believe that these verses are true, but they think that they don't apply to them. They think they're too far gone, they've messed their lives up to the point where God can't rescue them from themselves (let alone forgive them & LOVE them).
If these 16 verses aren't true for everybody, individually, then they're not true for anybody.
And I know they're true, because the truth contained within them is what I've staked my life upon. I've seen them lived out in countless people's lives. I know they're true because I've seen the changed lives of people who have believed them.
It's a choice - we either believe God is who He says He is in His Word, & that Person He says He is applies to us, individually - or we don't believe Him.
I choose to believe.
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