As I work with young people and our culture, I see a growing belief among young Christians that is alarming. It is this belief that sin is a given. It's not right; it's not good; but it's just the way things are. I have even seen this thought process grow into believing God "understands" that is the way things are so He is somehow okay with my sin. He forgives me after all, doesn't He?
But I find this to be a gross underestimation of the power of the Gospel. Just this week I was reading in 1 John and came across these words:
"Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil; whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." (1 John 3:4-10)
Strong words.
And the struggle there is we all know that it is true that none of us are perfect of ourselves or we wouldn't have needed Christ's sacrifice.
So here are some questions for us to wrestle with:
What does it look like to "make a practice of sinning"?
Is that different from a slip-up or a mistake or a moment of weakness?
What does it look like to "practice righteousness"?
Does being "born of God" give us a way to truly & totally leave sin behind?
How do we live in a way that is pursuing righteousness/leaving sin behind, yet not trying to trust in our own works to save us?
Look forward to your thoughts. God bless.
1 comment:
I LOOOOOVE This post.
I think the problem with my age group (and sometimes me) is that in our culture today, knowing what sin IS, is becoming more and more faint.
The line for RIGHT and WRONG is thinning, or at least being smudged around.
There are of course the main bad sins, 10 commandments, etc. But there are other things, such as idolatry, etc, that aren't so harped upon.
I always sit around and wonder if the everyday tasks, thoughts, and things i do are godly. I always nitpick myself and then sometimes I get tired of it :/
I don't know :D Just some random thoughts.
Post a Comment