When I decided to spend extended time in 1 John, my mind went immediately to verses of God’s love and mercy. To be fair, love is mentioned almost 50 times. So, I’m hoping you can see the reasoning. There are some difficult passages that can be easy to misinterpret. I’m about to dive into one.
Before I do, I want you to know how careful I want to be. I also ask you to please open your Bible, read the text yourself, ask the 5W’s and a H. Understand the context. I mark the text. Pray. Pray for God’s guidance, for the power of the Holy Spirit. I also use Moody Bible Commentary to check my thoughts and confirm. You might laugh if you saw my bed (where I study and pray).
With all that said, buckle up and here we go.
“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order 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 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/1jn.3.4-10.ESV
I counted. Sin is mentioned 9 times in 6 verses. Might be something John wants to bring to our attention. That’s not including lawlessness, devil, deceive. So, what John is saying and what he is not.
This is exhortation.Look to Jesus who never sinned. This is our example. By his blood, we are forgiven. To read this and say God expects us to be perfect, means you have never read our Bible. Leviticus. (Yes I went there.) God KNOWS we sin. What God is saying here: Practice righteousness. right behavior. Consciously listen, pause, and breathe before acting on temptation.
This is SO hard. Yet, this is our daily walk. Allowing the Spirit to speak.
Each step, remaining with Jesus. My thought life. My actions. My words. I know, with confidence, that I need the mercy of Jesus. Yet, our model is Jesus who took on our sin.
So how do we keep moving towards righteousness? We pray. We declare truth. We remember we are God’s children. We remember that loving one another is an act of obedience and we take the blood of Jesus seriously. Today I have choices to make. I have steps to take.
I start with my Bible open and knowing I cannot do this day without the Spirit. Move, guide, pause. I start here. In truth and knowing truth. I take this with me.
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