READING: Ezekiel 47-48, 1 John 3
“Everyone who remains in Him does not sin.”
1 John 3:6
Read these texts from today’s reading, and think about what they say about all of us:
- “Everyone who remains in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him.” (1 John 3:6)
- “The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning.” (1 John 3:8)
- “Everyone who has been born of God does not sin . . .” (1 John 3:9)
At face value, these verses condemn all of us. We all sin. And if we sin, we’re apparently of the devil. It would be easy to read these words and give up in our walk with God, for none of us can live up to, “Everyone who has been born of God does not sin.”
In these verses, though, the phrases “does not sin,” “who sins,” and “who commits sin” are best understood in the original language as “keeps on sinning” or “makes a practice of sinning.” The point is not that we never sin as a believer (that’s why we need the promise that God forgives us in 1 John 1:9), but that we cannot allow sin to control us. God has changed our hearts and filled us with His Spirit in such a way that we cannot keep on sinning if we’ve been born again (1 John 3:9). Habits should be gone, for He has freed us from the bondages that control us.
Instead, our responsibility is to keep on abiding in Him (1 John 3:6). We are to walk in the light, not in the darkness. We are people of life, not of death. We live in truth, not in lies. And, we don’t let anyone deceive us about these truths; rather, we recognize and believe that “the one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous” (1 John 3:7).
ACTION STEPS:
- Don’t let sin abide in your life today.
- Abide in God by reading and obeying His Word.
PRAYER: “God, I desperately need your help to stop sin from controlling me. Help me. Forgive me.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Daniel 1-2, 1 John 4