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READ: ROMANS 6:11-14; EPHESIANS 5:1-20; 1 JOHN 1:7-9\n\n\n\nHave you ever finished cleaning a room\u2026only to notice the sun shining on a dusty spot you missed? In our Christian lives, the same thing happens in our hearts. Often, we don\u2019t even notice our own sin. But, through God\u2019s Word, through our prayer times, through our times at church, or through something else, Jesus continues to show us forgotten places in our hearts where we are struggling to love God and our neighbors well. Think about it this way\u2014Jesus is the Light, and in His mercy He shines on us, showing us sin in our lives that He wants to clean away. It can be unsettling to realize we have sin in our lives that we weren\u2019t even aware of, but we can trust that whenever God brings an area of sin to light, it\u2019s because He wants to help us and bring renewal to that messy place.\n\n\n\nAs 1 John 1:9 says, \u201cIf we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.\u201d Like a dust rag cleans dust off a forgotten table, Jesus cleans away our sin.\n\n\n\nAnd this good news is multi-faceted. Through Jesus\u2019s death and resurrection, He frees us from both the result of sin\u2014which is death\u2014and also from the power of sin. That means, once we put our trust in Jesus, we can know that all our sins are forgiven\u2014past, present, and future. And, because the Holy Spirit is living inside us, we don\u2019t have to give in to the temptation to sin anymore. The Holy Spirit empowers us to say \u201cno\u201d to sin and live in God\u2019s good ways instead. And even though we\u2019ll never do this perfectly until Jesus returns, His forgiveness remains sure.\n\n\n\nHas something you\u2019ve done that\u2019s wrong been made visible to you by Jesus recently? We all sin every day, and that\u2019s why He invites us to confess our sins to Him often, resting in His sure forgiveness. Then, we can live by the light of His Spirit, trusting Him to help us do what\u2019s right. We can live in love toward God and our neighbors because of Jesus. \u2022 A. W. Smith\n\n\n\n\u2022 Where in your life do you struggle to truly love God and your neighbors (Matthew 22:36-40)? Jesus invites us to talk to Him about this\u2014we can be totally honest with Him because He knows what temptation is like and He empathizes with us, but He Himself never sinned, so He can help us (Hebrews 4:14-16). He reminds us how much He loves us, and He often reveals underlying lies we\u2019re believing that might be causing a struggle to continue\u2014lies about God, ourselves, or others. Consider taking a moment to talk to Jesus about whatever comes to mind.\n\n\n\nBut if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9 (NLT)