March 11, 2019
by Mike Sluder

1 John 2:1-6 
Living in the light 
2 My little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you don’t sin. But if you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. ² He is God’s way of dealing with our sins, not only ours but the sins of the whole world. ³ This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. ⁴ The one who claims, “I know him,” while not keeping his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. ⁵ But the love of God is truly perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know we are in him. ⁶ The one who claims to remain in him ought to live in the same way as he lived. 
 
Lent can be a difficult time. As we focus on our own mortality and just how much we need the life offered through Jesus Christ it is easy to get bogged down in our sinfulness. We are tempted to jump over this time of introspection and focus only on Easter. One of my preaching professors in seminary cautioned against making that jump too quickly. He said the church often wants to go straight from the cross to the empty tomb without spending any time in the sealed up tomb. If we truly want to know the joy of Easter morning it has to be preceded by a time of sitting in the darkness. These verses in 1 John serve as a reminder for us that even while we linger in the darkness of Lent we live in the Light of the Christ, our Advocate with the Father. Remember, you are not alone in the darkness of doubt and sin and the tomb. Linger there with Jesus for he is God’s way of dealing with our sins, and the sins of the whole world.