Devotion of the Fourth Day of Christmas 2012

1 John 1:5-10 (ESV)

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Almighty God and Everlasting God, too often we judge ourselves by the standards of the world rather than by Your holy standards. Yet Your Holy Word says that we deceive ourselves and do not have the truth in us if we don’t recognize that we are sinners, walking in the darkness, totally corrupt, until we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness and cleansing. Shine Your holy light into our hearts, wipe away the evil, and replace it with Your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.