Today you should read: 1 John 1:5-10
We are walking through one of the most helpful books in the Bible in terms of creating a solid foundation for Christian belief in practice. In just a few verses today, we see 3 of these solid principles.
God is the standard for holiness.
God is the light! There is no darkness, nor shred of sin or evil in His character. We must begin here because God is the creator of all things and in him, all things hold together. To read the Bible and miss God is to miss the Bible. The Bible is a book for us, but it’s not a book about us, it’s a book about God. God is also the standard by which we compare ourselves to. Being a better person, having less sin than your neighbor or classmate isn’t the goal; God is the goal. He must be our standard for holiness.
If you say you know God and you must walk with Him.
The Christian life is not a bilateral journey; we must have a singular focus on walking with God every day. True saving faith in Christ cannot be earned by our works, but it is shown to be true by our works. Simply put: you can’t have it both ways. You can’t live in unrepentant sin and have true saving faith in Christ. This doesn’t mean that you have to be perfect, but you do need to be repentant.
Deal honestly with your sin in a way that leads to repentance.
1 John is all about how to know if you are really saved or not. One of the marks of being saved is that you have a right understanding of your sin. Like I said above, this doesn’t mean that you are perfect, but it means you understand that you are a sinner, that your sin is powerful, and that it has dire consequences for your life. Therefore, you are on a life long journey to seeing sin decrease and godliness increase in your life.
Which of these three principles stand out the most you?
By: Graham Withers — Pastoral Ministry Associate
JumpstartCPC.com 
I see all three principles as one; they nest inside one another kind of like a logical statement. If God is the standard of holiness, then you should walk with Him; and if you walk with Him you will repent of your sins. It’s hard to separate them.
Thanks for your thought-provoking commentary Graham!