Making God a Liar

It always makes me laugh inside when someone comes for Holy Confession and begins, “I don’t really any sins to confess, but I know I’m supposed to come for confession.” On the one hand, we all know the need for Holy Confession. On the other hand, to think we don’t have any sins to confess just makes God a liar.

Brethren, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected.  By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1^st John 1:8-10;2:1-6

On the opposite end of the spectrum, when someone deeply aware of their sinfulness comes for Holy Confession, the experience inspires me to try harder to avoid sin in my own life. We see this in the lives of the saints.

The ‘closer’ they are to God and His grace, the more the saints recognize their sin. The most dangerous place to be is thinking we don’t sin. It is worse than thinking cancer is just a muscle spasm. Denying we sin, denies the need for God.

We cannot live without God. We cannot be saved without God. We cannot repent without God. The only thing we can do without God, is sin.

Thankfully, as Saint John teaches in today’s reading, as much as we try to avoid sin, every time we fall to temptation, God is there to help us get back up and start over again. Our Lord Jesus Christ is waiting for us to reach out to Him and ask Him for help.

We will never ask if we think we have not sinned. Stop lying to yourself. Admit your sin and ask God for help. Obeying His commandments is a start in the right direction. Knowing we sin, He commands that we forgive each other not just once, “but seventy times seven” times.

That is proof enough that God knows we will sin, and He gives us ‘a way out’ of sin. Start today by admitting your sin. Start today and truth will live in you.