No longer under the power of sin

Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is. 1 John 3:4-6 NLT

John says that when Jesus returns for His children, “when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:3). Because we received the unconditional love of God, we live in the hope that we will be with Him for eternity, and that we will be conformed to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is why we are charged to seek to strive living the life He wants for us by not conforming to the things of this world. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). If we claim we are in Jesus and have fellowship with Him, we have to “live [our] lives as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). We are to strive to live in accordance with His will by not “breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God.” We cannot continue to live in sin for we know that Christ suffered at the cross “to take away our sins.” Sin is deliberate rejection of the standard God had set in His Word and a willful pursuit of ones own selfish desires. John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus is the “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Though Christ is sinless, “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right” (1 Peter 2:24). Therefore, as children of God belonging to His Kingdom, we should no longer have the appetite for sin. We are no longer motivated to violate God’s will by yielding to sin. God knows that we can still stumble into sin that is why He wants us to immediately seek His forgiveness by confessing our sin. “if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9). Once forgiven, we should always be reminded that we are no longer under the power of sin and since our fellowship is now with the Lord, our desire is to be obedient to His Word. “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6). Let us have God “use [our] whole body as an instrument to do what is right for [His] glory” (Romans 6:13).

Blessings,