Understanding Sin

Commentary

Sin as a word simply means to miss the mark. As James states in this verse, it is sin to know what is good yet not do it. Inherently, all humans know what is good; God has written it on our hearts as our conscience. So the fact is, all have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious, perfect standard — we’ve missed the mark.

The Bible tells us that sin is lawlessness; God has a moral Law in place, and to overstep that is to break that law. Not only that, but to sin is to have a disregard for the Lawmaker Himself; it’s a lack of respect for God’s will, while elevating your own will.

Humans will never be sinless in this life; we’ve inherited that sin-nature from Adam. As you likely know, this is why Jesus died on the cross, to pay the price for all sin. While we are unable to be sinless, even as followers of Christ, it’s important to understand sin, the nature of our flesh, and how Jesus enables us to overcome many temptations that lead to sin.

Commentary

God warned Cain about the destructive power of sin. Like Cain, you have a choice to allow God to be your Master or to allow sin to be your master. Sin is absolutely dangerous and comes only with harm, even for the Christ-follower. When your heart is not aligned with God’s will, sin lies in wait, like a predator ready to overtake. God doesn’t have His moral Law to make life miserable, but rather to improve our lives by protecting us from that sin. Our flesh wants nothing more than to participate in the things that we once enjoyed apart from Jesus.

Now, you and I must take control of our actions by submitting ourselves to the Lord always, every moment that we can. Doing so will ensure we have the ability to overcome temptation when it strikes; otherwise, if you’re messing around, then you open yourself up to be overtaken by the desires of your flesh — which left unchecked will surely bring destruction in your life.

Commentary

Jesus taught in this passage that sin originates in a person’s heart. The excuse that some use, “satan made me do it”, will not hold up in God’s courtroom, because we are all in control of our own bodies. Thoughts are going to come into your mind, and the things of this world will certainly influence you in bad ways, and that influence is of the devil.

However, when all is said and done, it is you who allows such thoughts and desires to overtake you. And the more you allow it, the harder it becomes to resist, because the demonic attack grows stronger as your walk with Christ gets weaker.

The apostle John states in this passage that children of God do not sin. It means that we who follow the Lord are not practicing sin. We do sin; to say otherwise makes us liars, but the born-again believer in Jesus is not living a life of sin. An example would be someone who professes to being a believer, yet they live in open sin, and may even consider that sinful situation as something that is “bringing them closer to God”. How far from the truth that really is.

Commentary

Jesus taught that we can have a pretty good idea of who our brothers and sisters in Christ are by the fruit that they produce. Likewise for you and me. Everything evil and self-serving is the fruit of our flesh. While as believers we may stumble in the flesh, this bad fruit should never be overwhelmingly present every day of our lives.

For someone to have been born again in Christ Jesus, there must be good fruit abundantly present in their life. This good fruit or fruit of the Spirit is not the method of salvation, but is the indicator of your salvation in Jesus.

Walking in the Holy Spirit will ensure that you are doing God’s will. You won’t need to work hard to love, to be gentle, to be patient, and so on, because when you’re walking in the Holy Spirit, then you are walking in the abilities and power of Christ. It’s He who is doing the work in you; all you must do is be willing to be used by Him.

Commentary

Understand that temptation comes for every single one of us. As believers, we are hit hard at times with temptation, especially when we are desiring to draw closer to the Lord and are pursuing His will or when we’re weak in faith and easier to overtake. The enemy hates you and will attack you, preying upon the weaknesses of your flesh. Don’t think for a minute that demons are not studying you and observing what makes you stumble. But know that Jesus is with you. He is able to help you overcome all temptation to sin if you just follow His lead.

We have a God who knows and understands the human condition. The Bible teaches that Jesus was tempted in every way that you and I are, but He overcame it all. My dear brother or sister, while we can’t be perfect like Christ, we can certainly strive to follow after Him as if we can, eyes on the prize of eternity, heart in lock-step with God. This will help in avoiding the trap of sin and the destruction that it inevitably brings, when it’s allowed to run wild in a person’s life.