The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

—1 John 2:1

When believers sin, Jesus stands at our defense. God is faithful and just to forgive us when we confess and repent (1 John 1:9). None of us are perfect for, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:10).

But there is also much expected of us as believers. Further down, 1 John 2:4 says, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know him,’ and does not keep his commandments, is a liar,” and 1 John 2:9 says, “The one who says that he is in the light and yet hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.”

Many who say they know God live in hatred of those around them, or they live without taking the Lord’s commandments into consideration at all.

Though every believer will stumble, if we allow hatred to reign in our lives or make no effort to walk as Jesus walked, we are not in the light. The truth is revealed in our lives.

These passages are both a comfort and a warning—when we sin, we go straight to Jesus and repent. We aren’t condemned because he paid our debt. At the same time, some who say and believe they’re in the light are not.

This isn’t contradictory; it’s about lordship. Do we strive to follow God’s commands and to love our fellow man? Do we live like God is our master, though we sometimes fail, or do we say God is our master without attempting to make him so?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download