Holy Wit – Reflections #3 (Walking in the Light: Studies Through 1 John) Following the Teacher Scripture Reference: 1 John 2:1–6 There is a certain look that appears on the face of a student who has just made a mistake in front of a teacher. You can see it in a classroom. You can see it in a workshop. You can see it on a football field, in a kitchen, in an office, or anywhere one human being is trying to learn from another. It is the look that says, "Well, that did not go as planned." Sometimes the mistake is small. Sometimes it is spectacular. The student forgets an instruction, uses the wrong tool, answers the wrong question, or walks confidently in the wrong direction. There are few things in life quite as impressive as watching someone make a mistake with complete confidence. Most of us have done it. Some of us have done it repeatedly. The difference between a good student and a bad one is not usually the number of mistakes. It is what happens afterward. The bad student decides the teacher is the problem. The bad student explains why the instructions were unclear. The bad student becomes an expert in excuses. The good student looks embarrassed, learns something, and keeps following. Years pass. The student is still not perfect. He still makes mistakes and still occasionally misunderstands. But something has changed. If you watch closely, you begin to see the teacher in the student. Not physically. In habits. In attitudes. In priorities. The student begins to value what the teacher values, to notice what the teacher notices, and to approach problems the way the teacher approaches them. The resemblance grows. That resemblance is what came to mind as I read 1 John 2. John begins with a command: "Do not sin." Then, almost immediately, he acknowledges reality: "If anyone sins..." John understands Christians. He understands that believers are still learners, still growing, and still capable of mistakes that make us wince when we look back on them. The remarkable thing is that John does not leave us standing alone in our failure. He points us to Jesus Christ the righteous—our Advocate, the One who represents us before the Father, the One whose righteousness succeeds where ours does not, and the One whose sacrifice fully dealt with our sin. That is the foundation of the Christian life. Not our performance, but Christ's. Not our righteousness, but Christ's. Not our ability to avoid every mistake, but Christ's ability to save sinners. Yet John does not stop there. Because grace does something. The student who truly follows the Teacher does not remain unchanged. Over time, he begins to resemble the One he follows. This is why John speaks of obedience—not as the basis of salvation, but as the evidence of salvation. The Christian obeys Christ imperfectly, sometimes frustratingly imperfectly. Yet there is a growing desire to walk where Christ walks, to love what Christ loves, to turn away from what Christ hates, and to become more like the Teacher. John is not asking whether believers have arrived. He is asking whether they are following. That is a very different question. One produces despair. The other produces hope. Because every Christian can point to failures. Every Christian can point to sins. Every Christian can point to moments that require repentance. But can we point to a growing resemblance to Christ? Can we say that, however slowly, we are learning to walk where He walks? That is John's concern. Not perfection. Direction. Not mastery. Following. Not sinlessness. Resemblance. And that is good news for all of us, because the Teacher we follow is also the Advocate who stands for us when we stumble. #HolyWitBibleStudy #GordonMcGinnis #WalkingInTheLight #1John2