April 24, 2015
1 John 3:4-6
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
CONSIDER THIS
1. Everyone who sins breaks the law. AGREE.
2. In fact, sin is lawlessness. AGREE.
3. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. AGREE.
4. And in him is no sin. AGREE.
5. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. UMMMMMMM.
6. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. UHHHHH.
Agreeing with one through four? Not a problem.
I don’t know about you, but I struggle with understanding points five and six. There are only three basic options:
a) It’s not true. John heard the Holy Spirit wrong.
b) John means something completely different when he uses the word “sin.”
c) It’s true.
I choose c). John uses the word “hamartia” which means to miss the target. Many, many people believe it is impossible to live free from sin. In other words, they believe human beings are destined to miss the mark. I would agree with them if it weren’t for Jesus. Because of the work of Jesus on the cross to forgive us of our sin and because of the power of his resurrection to give us power over sin we can actually hit the target now.
I don’t know about you but I don’t want to go through life aiming at a target that I know I will never be able to hit. Do you know what happens to people who believe they can’t possibly hit the target? They stop trying to hit it. They resign themselves to miss the mark which is another way of saying they don’t believe sin has lost its power.
What if we began to get focused on actually aiming at the target?
I think the biggest problem Christians have with sin is our lack of belief that it can be overcome. Think of the sin you most struggle to overcome. Do you really want to overcome it? It starts with believing its possible.
J.D. Walt writes daily for Seedbed’s Daily Text. He serves as Seedbed’s Sower in Chief. Follow him @jdwalt on Twitter or email him at jd.walt@seedbed.com. Get the Daily Text delivered to your inbox fresh every morning. Subscribe HERE.