Come Clean

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 
1 John 1:7 (ESV)

One of my dearest friends, J.D. Greear, describes a surprising Hindu ritual he encountered on a mission trip in Southeast Asia. A street full of men insert hooks through their backs, drag sleds toward a temple, and wash their wounds in sacred water, hoping to be clean. The desire to feel clean on the inside began at the beginning of time, when the first humans covered themselves with leaves. 

But you cannot get there from the outside in. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7, ESV). There is a liquid that actually cleanses, and it is not sacred water. The blood of Jesus reaches every place that striving and religion never will.

But notice what John says comes before the cleansing. Fellowship. The Greek word John uses is koinonia, which means shared life, not just casual proximity. A father and his son are always father and son. That relationship is permanent, but it doesn’t mean they are close. 

Koinonia is an active connection. It’s letting another believer see the temptation you don’t want to talk about right now (not just a temptation you faced twenty years ago). It’s being honest about the anger you struggled to control yesterday. When you open up honestly in fellowship with other believers, the blood of Jesus does its deep work.

I have watched the opposite across five decades of ministry. When a believer begins to backslide, the first thing they do is stop showing up to church. Darkness never wants to be near light.

Commit to fellowship and let people in. Get into fellowship and let people in. You cannot receive what the blood offers while hiding in the dark alone.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the relationships You’ve provided in my life. Keep me walking in the light today, connected to You and to the people around me. May the blood of Jesus cleanse me completely as I commit myself to fellowship with other believers. In Jesus' Name, Amen.