Encouragement

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OUR DEFENDER – by Stephanie M. White

1 John 2:1 NIV
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

The Word was written to us; it is God’s gift to us. The Word is our weapon against our flesh and the sin our flesh produces. David said that he hid the Word in his heart to keep him from sin (Psalm 119:11). Sin can be avoided through our consistent intake of the Word; unfortunately, sin is never avoided entirely. We are in a Spiritual battle and we decide which nature controls us based on what we do with the Word. Will we keep our focus on the Word or will we focus elsewhere? There will be days when we ignore the Word and sin will reign – what happens on those days?

John tells us that when we sin we have a defender. Jesus Christ is speaking in our defense when we sin. Wow! How many of us truly believe that? Many times we believe that we cannot go to God when we yield to our flesh; we believe that He is against us. Some Christians believe that they cannot go to God when they sin because it seems like some verses communicate or support that assumption. They look at verses that speak about sin separating us from God, but forget that Jesus Christ took care of all of their sin. Our sins are as far as the east is from the west and they cannot keep us from God any longer because of what Christ has done for us. He paid the price for all of our sin completely. There is no balance due by us. Our sin can only keep us from God if we let it! We must see our sin as an indicator. Our sin should open our eyes to a need in our lives – a need for more of the Word. You should never let your sin keep you from God, because you will never prevail over it without Him!

When we find ourselves in sin we can come boldly to the throne for the help that we need because Jesus is our righteousness; He earned our right to come to God because we never could. Apart from Christ we can do nothing of Spiritual value; we are Spiritual impoverished on our own. We need Him! Our flesh should open our eyes to our need for the Word in our lives; it should lead us into the open arms of Christ! If your flesh is keeping your from God, then it’s being perverted. Your sin should emphasize your need for Christ and lead you to your Defender! We cannot overcome sin without Him!

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