No More Sin?

Is it really possible for those who follow God to stop sinning completely?

It kind of seems like Scripture tells us that if we're in Christ, we shouldn't sin anymore. But, in my experience this really doesn't feel possible.

I just finished reading 1 John. In this letter, John seems to say that if we are in Christ, we don't keep on sinning.

"Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous just as He is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God." (1 John 3:7-9)

What does John mean when He says those born of God don't go on sinning? How is that possible given that we all still struggle with sin?

This seems especially strange for John to say in light of what John writes earlier:

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8)

How does that fit?

I think John's point here is more about our attitude toward sin in our lives. 

When we're not walking in God's ways, sin is no big deal to us. We're not bothered by it. Mostly, we don't even think about it. It's probably not even called sin in our lives. We just go on doing whatever it is we want to do.

But, when we're born of God, we're bothered by sin in our lives. We can't just merrily go along pretending it's all okay. We're bothered by sin and do something about it.

It's not that we never sin again. It's that we're not content to stay in our sin.

We decide to make different choices. We stop doing certain activities or going to certain places or hanging out with certain people.

We fill our time and our minds with choices that keep us from sin.

We seek out accountability and support from other Christians as we work to rid our lives of sin.

We do whatever it takes to remove that sin we've become aware of from our lives.

God is Gracious!

Recently some of my posts have been talking about the dangers of building our life on lies, of refusing to listen to the truth, and of going our own way. If that's the only part of the picture we see, then it would be easy to get depressed and lose hope. But, as we continue to look at Isaiah 30, we see the hope and the way to grab hold of it again.

"People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears, He will answer you. Although, the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying: This is the way; walk in it."
                                                                                  -Isaiah 30:19-21 (emphasis mine)

These verses begin to outline how God responds when Israel turned from their disobedience and cried out to Him. In the verses following these ones, some of the specific ways God would bless Israel's repentance and obedience are outlined.

I was struck by the words: "As soon as He hears, He will answer you." God's response to a cry to Him of true repentance is immediate. All we have to do is say the words.

He doesn't wait for us to start changing things to prove it, he responds immediately. He will help us change our actions as soon as we acknowledge we turned away and that we want to go back to His way.

God will become our Guide again. He will help us to walk according to His plan for us. Then we can life His life for us.

It all begins with simply calling out to God.

Is there a place in your life where you've gone your own way and you need to get back on God's path?

Are you will to confess it?

Who Do You Depend On?

You can't depend on anyone else.
You have to do it yourself.
You're the only one who has what it takes to get it done.
God helps those who help themselves.


How often do you hear things like that?
How often are you the one saying or thinking them?


This thinking is epidemic in our society. It's how we are taught to live.

Even in Christian circles, we think we have to do it on our own - that we can't even depend on God, if we'll dare to actually admit that. We might talk about God being our strength, but the reality of our lives says otherwise. We actually depend on ourselves, not God.

It turns out that Israel and Judah had the same problem. I've been reading the prophets this summer and that comes up over and over again, and they had consequences for that decision.

     "But you have planted wickedness,
          you have reaped evil,
          you have eaten the fruit of deception.
     Because you have depended on your own strength
          and on your many warriors,
     the roar of battle will rise against your people,
          so that your fortresses will be devestated."
                                          (Hosea 10:13-14)

Israel and Judah began to depend on themselves and they paid for that. They discovered that depending on themselves rather than God was a costly mistake.

It's a costly mistake we always make. When we choose to depend on ourselves rather than God, it leads to our destruction as well.

Our strength isn't enough. Our strength won't stand.

Only God's strength is enough. Only God's strength will stand.

When I read these verses in Hosea, I read a warning God put there for a reason. God wants to spare us the pain and anguish Israel and Judah went through. We can learn from their mistake and choose to depend on God rather than our own strength.

Who are you depending on?

Whose strength do you turn to first? God's? Or yours?

But, it's Just so Small!

Our culture tells us that bigger is better. That more spectacular is better. That we need to always be looking for the next big thing.

In the midst of that we usually miss the small things. We may talk about needing to pay attention to the small things, but the truth is that it's almost always just talk. We don't just miss seeing the small things, we often come to despise them.

Despising the small things doesn't go well in any of life, but it is especially dangerous in our spiritual lives. It's dangerous because the small things is how God often works.

Yes, God does the big and spectacular sometimes. But, I would say that those times are the exceptions. God works through the small things far more often. Sometimes we might not notice the small things He is doing in the moment, but when we look back they become clear.

Sometimes when we look back, we see how the accumulation of small things led to a big change over time. A change we would miss if we were looking for something big to happen in an instant.

Last week, I was reading in the writing of the prophet Zechariah when I was challenged on this. Zechariah 4:4 begins this way, "Who dares despise the day of small things . . . ?"

When I read that God pointed out to me that I had despised the small things, by getting caught up in looking for the big things, in looking for the spectacular. Then He showed me how the small things I was despising added up to be bigger than the big things I was looking for. I've had to allow God to change my view of the small things and learn to love and celebrate, rather than despise, them.

What are you usually looking for God to do? Are you caught up in looking for just big things?

Or are you allowing God to teach you to really pay attention to and celebrate the small things?

The Danger of Legalism

For the summer I've been reading the Old Testament and I've been struck by a theme that keeps coming up. Over and over again, God is calling Israel to return to Him. And it's more than just a call to start doing the right things.

God is calling Israel to return to Him with their hearts. With their attitudes and their motives.

God doesn't want them to do the right things just because they are the right things. He wanted them to do the right things because they wanted to do the right things.

"I want you to show love,
          not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know Me
          more than I want burnt offerings."
                                                                                   (Hosea 6:6, NLT)

In this verse, God is calling for Israel to return to Him with their hearts. He doesn't want their sacrifices and offerings, unless they're flowing from a heart that wants to do them.

God wants them to show true love to each other. God wants His people to know Him - to spend time on their relationship with Him.

I believe this is the same thing God wants for us today. He wants us to do the right things because we love Him and know Him. He wants our attitudes and our motives for what we do to flow form our relationship with Him.

When our hearts are no longer a part of what we do, it can be easy to fall into the trap of legalism. We do the right things to earn God's approval and favour. It becomes all about actions.

And legalism slowly kills us. When we're doing things because we're supposed to, we miss out on what God really has for us - the life He really wants us to live.

Legalism will never satisfy us. And it will always end in defeat.

That's why God tells us over and over that it's our heart that matters. If we're doing something because of where our heart is at, then it will bring us life.

If our attitudes and our motives are about bringing glory to God and knowing Him more, then the things we do will bring us life.

If our attitudes and our motives are about doing the right things - legalism - then the things we do will bring us death.

Why are you doing what you're doing in your relationship with God?

If you're straying into legalism, then maybe you need to be honest with God and ask Him to change your heart. That is His specialty - but He won't force it on us.

That's the best part of this all - Just because we've been living one way doesn't mean it can't change. We can turn to God with all our hearts, even if that's not how we have been living.

How is your heart?

Lent and Other Christian Traditions

In the last few years, I've heard a lot about Lent. I don't remember hearing much about it growing up. I knew it was a period of time before Easter and that people often fasted during it. But I knew little else about it. Beginning to hear about it more increased my curiosity to learn more about it.

My crash course in Lent taught me the following:

• Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter and excludes Sundays.
• Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on the Thursday before Good Friday.
• Lent is a time of preparation leading to Easter, commonly observed by fasting.
• Ultimately, Lent is a time of preparation leading up to the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Learning about Lent also explained to me why I had never heard much about it before. It's not something all Christian churches observe, mine being one that traditionally does not.

I've also come to realize that learning from traditions in other Christian churches can help us to grow in our understanding of following Christ. I think this is one of those times.

Even if we choose not observe lent ourselves, there is value in realizing the importance of making time in our lives for fasting and repentance. And for taking time to reflect on the events we remember each year at Easter.

Lent isn't mentioned in Scripture, so we can never make it something required for all Christians. But, if something has survived as many years of church tradition, it may be something worth looking at. Not because we necessarily need to follow the tradition, but because we need to understand why so many who have gone before us have seen the value in something.

And so I'm left to reflect on what, if any, place the observance of Lent should have in my life. I see value in it and yet, I find myself cautious of getting caught up in legalism over it.

I guess ultimately this is something to talk to God about. If it's being done for the right reasons, then it can be a good thing in our relationship with God. If it's being done for the wrong reasons, then it can have the opposite effect to what we want it to.

I guess the thing I want to leave you with in this post is a challenge to think about your own life and about the things you do in certain seasons to grow deeper in your walk with God. You might have things you do at certain times without realizing you do. We have them because they help us.

But, they might not work the same way for someone else. They may have different things they do in those seasons. And maybe if we take the time to hear from others and learn what works for them, we'll grow more in our own walk with God.