It is an interesting question.  As Christians we need to know the truth about sin and where it actually comes from and from whom.  If we continue to live a life of sin then how can we be a child of God?  It does not make any sense nor does it make it right.  God sees all things not matter what they are.  He knows what we will say and do before we even do it and He knows our thoughts.  We cannot hide anything from Him.  So why should we try?  By immediately confessing our sins God will immediately forgive us.  In today’s devotion Phil Ware ‘A Year With Jesus’ talks about ‘The Truth About Sin,’ when you stop and think about it that is what this world is all about.  Living in sin or life as they wish not realizing the consequences that they will face later when Christ returns.  To me that is a scary thought, one that I don’t want to be in.

Read today’s devotion and see if it does not touch your heart as it has done mine.

“The Truth about Sin” — A Year with Jesus for 11/17/2014

Note from Jesus

Dear Beloved,

As God’s child, you need to know that some truth is very basic, very simple, and that the evil one — the“diabolical one” as John calls him — wants to confuse you by making things complicated or by lying to you about what’s important. You can tell those who are My disciples, God’s adopted children, My younger siblings by faith, because they live good moral lives full of good deeds. Those who don’t live this kind of life are not My disciples and are not God’s children.

You will not live life perfectly. None of the Father’s children, except for Me, ever have or ever will. You will slip into an occasional sin. However, My disciples do not, as John describes it, live “a life of habitual sin.” My disciples, the Father’s children, don’t “persist in sin”: sin is not their way of life and certainly not their desired way to live.

My disciples long to live as I did, dedicated to the Father and reflecting the Father’s character and compassion. When they do stumble and sin, they confess it instead of trying to hide it. My sacrifice on the cross cleanses them of their sin (1 John 1:5-10). While I don’t want you to sin even one sin because of its traps, damage, and consequences, I will forgive and cleanse you of these occasional sins. It’s the “habitual” nature of sin and the willingness to “persist” in that sin that ultimately reveals the disloyalty to the Father in a person’s heart.

If you are struggling alone with your sin, please remember John’s call for you to confess your sins (1 John 1:7-9). That doesn’t just mean that you confess them to Me or the Father, but you also get the help of another couple of brothers or sisters in the Father’s family to walk along side you and help strengthen you (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). Confess your sins to these spiritual partners, these confidants in the faith, who can walk beside you, encourage you, challenge you to live the life you want to live in Me, and help you overcome the power of sin’s allure that seeks to destroy you (James 1:13-15).

No one should want the “moral anarchy” of sin and the damage it brings. As James said:

So own up to your sins to one another and pray for one another. In the end, you may be healed. Your prayers are powerful when they are rooted in a righteous life.
(James 5:16).

Sin will not be your lifestyle, because you are God’s child — the Father’s spiritual DNA is alive in you through the Holy Spirit. You have been adopted into My family of grace. So let the true Spirit-transformed you shine through in your daily life!

Verses to Live

John’s words are simple and clear. Don’t let anyone switch the price tags on you when it comes to morality. While none of you is perfect, the fruit of a good person’s life ultimately shows through in good deeds and obedient and godly living. John makes that very clear in the following verses from his short letter of 1 John.

You are my little children, so I am writing these things to help you avoid sin. If, however, any believer does sin, we have a high-powered defense lawyer — Jesus the Anointed, the righteous — arguing on our behalf before the Father. It was through His sacrificial death that our sins were atoned. But He did not stop there — He died for the sins of the whole world.

We know we have joined Him in an intimate relationship because we live out His commands. If someone claims, “I am in an intimate relationship with Him,” but this big talker doesn’t live out His commands, then this individual is a liar and a stranger to the truth. But if someone responds to and obeys His word, then God’s love has truly taken root and filled him. This is how we know we are in an intimate relationship with Him: anyone who says, “I live in intimacy with Him,” should walk the path Jesus walked.
(1 John 2:1-6).

So now, my little children, live in Him, so that whenever He is revealed, we will have confidence and not have to hang our heads in shame before Him when He comes. If you know that He is just and faithful, then you also know that everyone who lives faithfully and acts justly has been born into a new life through Him.

Consider the kind of extravagant love the Father has lavished on us — He calls us children of God! It’s true; we are His beloved children. And in the same way the world didn’t recognize Him, the world does not recognize us either.

My loved ones, we have been adopted into God’s family; and we are officially His children now. The full picture of our destiny is not yet clear, but we know this much: when Jesus appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. All those who focus their hopes on Him and His coming seek to purify themselves just as He is pure.

Everyone who lives a life of habitual sin is living in moral anarchy. That’s what sin is. You realize that He came to eradicate sins, that there is not the slightest bit of sin in Him. The ones who live in an intimate relationship with Him do not persist in sin, but anyone who persists in sin has not seen and does not know the real Jesus.

Children, don’t let anyone pull one over on you. The one doing the right thing is just imitating Jesus, the Righteous One.

The one persisting in sin belongs to the diabolical one, who has been all about sin from the beginning. That is why the Son of God came into our world: to destroy the plague of destruction inflicted on the world by the diabolical one.

Everyone who has been born into God’s family avoids sin as a lifestyle because the genes of God’s children come from God Himself. Therefore, a child of God can’t live a life of persistent sin. So it is not hard to figure out who are the children of God and who are the children of the diabolical one: those who lack right standing and those who don’t show love for one another do not belong to God.
(1 John 2:28-29; 1 John 3:1-10)

Response in Prayer

Father in heaven, I want my life to display the character and compassion of Jesus. As Your child, I want My life to be full of the goodness, obedience, kindness, and moral character that my older brother Jesus displayed when He walked this earth. To be adopted into Your family, to be called Your child, to have Jesus as my brother as well as my Lord and Savior is such an incredible blessing. So may my life display my thanks for Your grace so richly poured out on me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Either we are going to walk, talk, and act like children of God or we are going to live in the world.  For me that is a no brainier.  I prefer to live like Christ no matter what comes my way and in all areas of my life.  How about you?