God is love. Some people can’t believe it. If God is love, how can he allow all of this suffering and murder and violence and corruption? If God exists, is love even one of God’s attributes? Others misunderstand this statement and would have it mean that God always and everywhere radiates a sentimental positive vibe toward all that we say and do.
One of the deepest human longings is the longing to belong. We have a need to be needed, a desire to be desired. We want to be part of a group where we feel accepted, where we fit in.
John Stott once put it like this:
“Sin and the child of God are incompatible. They may occasionally meet; they cannot live together in harmony.”
Sin disrupts our fellowship with God. Fellowship with God disrupts our relationship with sin.
“Beloved, do not misunderstand me – no man can have fellowship with God unless sin be taken away; but his fellowship with God, and his walking in light, does not take away his sin – not at all. The whole process of the removal of sin is here, ‘And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.'” (Spurgeon)
1 John 1.05-10.mp3 (Jake Medlong)
1 John 1.05-10.pdf (Jake Medlong)
Central Reflections 