John 3:20-21
19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

In John 3, Jesus tells a pharisee one must be born again to see the kingdom of God. The pharisee is confused and asks, “How can these things be?” Jesus speaks and ends his teaching with these verses. Because of my temperament or conscience I stumbled on verse 21– “whoever does what is true comes to the light.”

This cross referenced 1 John, where I read things like, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Or, “by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments,” and, “Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

My mind is overwhelmingly bent towards condemnation. I fail to keep His commandments. I can’t say with a clear conscience that I do what is true. I can not definitively say that I do not walk in darkness.

And so often my Bible reading ends maybe seeing, but glossing over a verse (or many verses) of promise. There are many in between the verses I quoted. Ultimately, however, I tend to leave the Bible discouraged that I don’t sound or feel like the Christian that the Bible is describing.