How Can We Avoid Sin?
Good Morning Friends,
Friends, how we imagine Jesus’ return with justice and love now might indeed effect our ability to avoid temptation. Oh we are wicked and do so need to mend our ways. And I do not think we should think we are safe from God’s wrath. However anger in God or in us does not bring about God’s redemptive work either. We may still have strong convictions and a desire for justice but we must refuse to allow the sins of others to cause us to sin. Our work is to see Christ in others as it is our hope that God would see Christ in us. To hold any sinful attitude in our heart blinds us. The Christ like way is to discover the broken body of Jesus in everyone. I can make no excuses but only try to help sinners discover the love and the light of Christ already in them. The focus must be the sinner not the sin when I love and the sin not the sinner when I hate and that brings us to today’s question. How Can We Avoid Sin?
Scripture: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.
1 John 2:1-11 (NRSV)Top of Form
Bottom of Form
18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.
Romans 7:18 (NRSV)
Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:8-11 (NRSV)
Message: There are of course all sorts of sin.
Human beings are naturally inclined towards sin. We really cannot avoid all sin. But we can love more. Everyone feels the urge to sin at some point because sinning gives us tangible yet fleeting benefits. Avoiding temptation…the urge to sin… is a challenge. Love is the better way to fight temptation. Still everyone, at some point, fails to resist. Thankfully we are never alone in our quest if we have Christ’s love in us. In today’s scripture we have Peter teaching us how to live as if Jesus would come back today and its relevance for fighting off the temptation to sin. This scripture in good Hebrew fashion asks us to live like there is no tomorrow but it also asks us to see God’s Kingdom at work in the lives of all of us. It does not ask us to put all our eggs into the heaven basket. It just asks us to love. The most important thing Peter argues is an ever widening circle of love. There is a lot of conjecture about how all that is going to happen but, however it turns out, we can trust that the love we share today will not be lost. You see, the concept of heaven and the resurrection is not found in the Hebrew Bible. That is why the Sadducees had such trouble with Jesus. They looked to the past and Jesus looked with a perspective outside of time. The Hebrew Bible focuses on this world and this life. It claims that when a person dies, the person goes to Sheol, the place of the dead and awaits judgment. But by the time Jesus walked this earth there was an idea present in Greek thought that the soul of the righteous ascended to heaven to be with God during the time between death and the Judgment. Christianity shares this common belief. It is with a blend of these perspectives that Peter asks us to welcome others as we would welcome Christ on His return. The emphasis is on trust and love now, not so much the reward later but he does not dismiss the resurrection and return either. The foundation of his request is one of faith. In this life and the next we are to have a level of comfort with responsibility.
If our love for Him is to be perfected we must learn to love others and that means relinquishing our negative feelings so that God’s Spirit can mend our soul. Only when we love can we walk in the light.
Pray we not walk in darkness. Pray we learn to love. Pray we be in step with God. Pray we step into the light. Pray we grow in a healthy relationship with Jesus.
Pray we experience salvation from our sins. Pray we live expectantly. Pray we live responsibly. Pray we live to glorify God. Pray that we feel God’s love. Pray we love one another today.
Pray we realize that God atones for the sins of the whole world. Pray we identify the personal flaws that lead us into temptation. Pray we have a plan to avoid temptation. Pray we have reasonable goals to fight off the sins we know we are most likely to be tempted to commit. Pray we not be overcome by regret for our past sins. Pray we substitute good behaviors for bad behaviors. Pray we realize that temptation is inevitable. Pray we follow the example of Christ when tempted. Pray we have the grace to not reject Jesus. Pray we obey the command to love. Pray for heaven on earth.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 