When Spiritual Illness Hits – 1 Jn 1:9

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, ESV)

I remember one time as a child that my day was at work, and I did something that I was not supposed to do. I played around with his deep-sea fishing pole. I released the lever on the reel that allowed it to free-spool. I played with the reel for a while pulling line out and reeling it in. However, something happened. The line got hopelessly tangled, it looked like a bird’s nest. I tried to straighten it out, but to no avail. I knew that when dad came home, well it would not be good.

When he got home, I tried to avoid him, but in our small house it was impossible. So, eventually I went to him, confessed and waited for the punishment. Yet it did not come. He gave me a lecture and forgot about it.

Here is the moral of this story. First, I was a member of the family. My dad was not going to disown me. My membership in the Hankins family was established at birth. Nothing was going to change this. It is the same with our heavenly Father. We as believers were born-again by the Spirit into the family of God. Nothing will ever change this.

Second, what did happen between my father and me was that my confidence to approach him was hurt by my own disobedience. Yet when I did come to him and confessed my action, he listened and forgave me and forgot about it. This is the way it is when believers stumble in sin. The fact is this. While sin dies not characterize believers, when we do sin, we create a barrier in our established relationship with the Father. This barrier is on our earthly side of heaven, our side. Yet for us as believers God is gracious towards us and gives us this great promise that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God forgives, forgets, and restores us. This restores confidence and joy in our relationship with him.

With regards to total wellness, the issue is this. When we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been spiritually healed from the power and penalty of sin once and for all. However, occasionally we do sin. When sin enters into our lives, we are not spiritually healthy and need a remedy. Christ already provided this remedy for us by His death on the cross. Yet, while our eternal salvation is assured, we resolve the problem of the sin on the earthly side by faith. It is by faith through grace that we confess our sins to the Father and experience that immediate refreshing from Him. For He is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”