1 John 1 v 8 - 10

In this passage John describes and condemns two mistaken ways of thought: 1. There are some people who reckon that they have no sin. Perhaps they blame all their shortcomings on their environment, upbringing or even genes. One of the signs of when the light of God dawns in a person's heart is that they recognise that they are sinners. Peter, when Jesus had used his boat to preach from in Luke 5 v 1-11, especially v 8: ''Peter fell to his knees before Jesus and said: ''Oh Lord, please leave me-I'm such a sinful man.'' 2. Some people resent being called sinners. The difficulty here is that none of their friends and family are going to agree with their assumptions about themselves and, more importantly, they are calling God a liar. God has indeed stated that all have sinned (Romans 3 v 23) We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! Remember that image in the Bible, when David feels that King Saul is out to kill him and his great friend Jonathan, who is also Saul's son, struggles to believe that they set a test for Jonathan to bring out that jealous side of Saul. When he recognises that yes, Saul wants to kill David, in a pre-arranged signal, he goes out with a bow and arrow and a young lad to pick up the arrows to a place near to where David is hiding. When he shoots the arrow he uses the Hebrew word for 'sinned', HAMARTIA, to illustrate that the lad should be looking further on for the arrow than he is. So, to sin is to fall short: we may not commit serious crime, but surely we are all agreed that we don't do what we know we should be doing? As Paul stated in Romans 7: ''I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.'' Admit to God that you have sinned!