Sin is not of God

There are many times I hear people disregard the danger of sin, or even brush off sin as so common that it isn’t even worth trying to avoid. Statements such as, “Everyone sins,” or “I’m not a saint” are used to explain away sinful behavior all the time. But if you consider today’s Epistle Reading, maybe we would have a different perspective.

St. John's First Universal Letter 3:9-22 (RSV) - BRETHREN, no one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not wonder, brethren, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if any one has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask.

If committing sin makes us a child of the devil, then we would NEVER brush off the chance to avoid sin. This year during Great Lent, take the chance to fight against sin. You may not always be successful, but at least you’ll be trying.