“YOU KNOW THAT he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him” (1 John 3:5–6). This brings us face-to-face with our chief problem: sin. It is a very unpopular word in some circles, but an all-important problem in all circles everywhere. What is sin? I asked that of a Hindu, and he reached up, broke off a twig of a tree, and said: “That is sin. I have hurt life.” His definition of goodness was not to hurt life—an impossible and twisted standard, for in all the water he drank and the food he ate, though he was a vegetarian, he took life in the water, in the grain, and in the plant. What is sin?
It is according to your standard of goodness. My goodness is Jesus Christ. When you ask me what is good, I do not add virtue to virtue; I think of Jesus of Nazareth. He is good incarnate. Therefore, sin is any departure from that goodness. Anything that is un-Christlike is sin. The method of keeping from sin is to abide in Him—“No one who abides in him sins.” Never sins? The word “sins” is present continuous—habitually sins. He may sin as an aberration, as a momentary fall, but if he hates it and loathes it and repudiates it and repents of it, it is not what this verse means when it speaks of sins. This verse means willful and deliberate and continuous sin. In another book, I said that one of the differences between a sheep and a pig is that if a sheep falls into a mud hole it bleats to get out, but if a pig falls into the same mud hole it wallows in it and loves it. You can tell to which you belong by your reaction to a fall. If you fall, and fall on your knees, you are still His even though the relationship is upset for the moment. The relationship is still there; you are His. If you stumble, then stumble into His arms, and He will restore and forgive you and teach you a lesson out of the stumble.
O Jesus Savior, if we are not saved from sin we are not saved from anything. Then save us from sin—all sin. When we sin against Thee we sin against ourselves. I consent for Thee to save me from every sin. In Thy name. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: A simple remedy to keep from sinning is to abide in Him.
