1 John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
So far, a theme we’ve looked at in this series is how Christians are the children of God. As such, we are in a loving relationship with God. he is teaching and training us so that we may grow up to maturity in Him. Teaching and training includes practice. We have God’s instructions and Christ’s example, but normally there isn’t an immediate transformation into complete perfection. It takes practice. When I was twelve, I got my first guitar. It is a beautiful instrument with a light finish on the wood so that the notes resonate and ring out. Despite the beauty and craftsmanship that went into the instrument, I had no idea how to play and sounded awful. I don’t claim to be any good now, but I studied how to play and I spent hours practicing so that instead of the dull thump-astrum-thump of a novice, I could could play something resembling a melody.
This verse describes that idea, but as a warning. We talked yesterday about fixing our hope on Christ. If we have our hope there, but are not practicing what we are learning in Christ, we deceive ourselves. The action we are looking forward to (our purification) doesn’t match with what we are doing now. If we practice sin, seeing the sinful patterns in our lives and continuing in them, then we are disobeying God. I think it’s rare to think, ‘I want to be better at sinning.’ We’re usually not the upfront about what we think and do, but that is what we say in effect when we ignore God and don’t think about how we are living. We practice sinning by not actively looking to Christ in hope. Today’s questions are perhaps a little more personal, and something I definitely am thinking about (so I put them in the first person). Does this lawless lifestyle describe me? How am I practicing sin? Am I ignoring God’s instructions and training?
Video
Comments
Post a Comment