If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1 John 1:10
No one can deny the fact that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, which is the example of God’s glory. It is written that sin is lawlessness and means that sin does not demand the restraint of morals. It is that lack of restraint that allows sin to flourish regardless of your relationship to God.
However, its sin that places a barrier between you and God and prevents a life with God. Having a relationship with God is extremely important when you pass under his rod on Judgment day. If God can say I never knew you, you will be placed with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:51)
God can say I never knew you when you haven’t spent time with him or made a personal effort to know him. The bible tells us that God was grieved when he saw the thoughts of his creation were evil to the core of his being. (Genesis 6:5-6) God knows that sin has no respect for property, life and the emotions of every living being. Therefore, God is very reluctant to be your friend when you allow sin to control your life.
Sin abounds in the world we live in and all anyone does is complain about it. While the world hates the sinful acts of men they themselves sin and justify their sins as if my sins were not as bad as yours are. God says sin is sin regardless of how you try to rationalize or legalize it. There is no exception that sin violates the dignity of every living being whether man or God.
Sin is also an open demonstration of a person’s self-centeredness, greed, and a lack of concern for other people. These are qualities that God, men and women universally despise. You may not think of sin as being harmful, but God considers sin to be detestable and punishable by being eternally separated from God and tortured in a lake of fire.
The good news is that God does not want anyone to perish but come the repentance through the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:9) The bad news is that there is nothing we can do to atone for our sins. God initiated the plan of salvation before the beginning of time, a plan that centers on Jesus Christ. To explain God’s plan Jesus said,
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Like the majority scripture the key word pertaining to salvation is to believe. No one responds to anything that its validity is doubtful, but to believe the validity of God’s word is to have the confidence that Jesus will do exactly as he said. Belief is the catalyst that causes you to respond to God’s calling on your life. God knew that nothing men can do justify themselves before God but the plan of salvation dealt with that specific issue.
The bible tells us that there can be no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. (Hebrews 9:22) The atonement sacrifice involved the death of a lamb with its blood poured out around the altar. However the blood of animals could never cleanse the man from the guilt of his sin. Only the blood of Jesus could justify man and cleanse him from the guilt of sin.
The gospel story also known as the good news tells us that Jesus Christ was sent into the world as the Lamb of God. Christ died on the Cross of Calvary to atoned for the sins of mankind and his body was placed in a tomb. Although Jesus Christ was sinless, he spent three days in hell as the atonement for our sins. When God was satisfied, resurrecting Jesus Christ back to life completed the plan of salvation.
Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who substituted his life for anyone who would accept his death that atoned for his or her sin. The salvation plan also required a belief and recognition of God who raised Jesus from the grave. Therefore you must accept Jesus Christ into your life with a commitment of making Jesus Christ your lord and then turn from your former life of sin.
Life with God starts with a simple prayer saying – Save me Lord and come into my life and I will serve you the rest of my life. Then tell someone that Jesus is Lord.
Suddenly your life changes and you become acutely aware of sin. Your relationship with God also changes as he adopts you and expects you to avoid sin in the future. Turning from the sin you were once comfortable with is not easy, but a process that requires God’s forgiveness many times. Turning from sin requires time and perseverance, as sin attacks a seasoned Christian who needs forgiveness for the sin that is defeating them. However, it is the continued practice of turning from sin that keeps your life with God correct.
The Christian life makes more sense when you live it. As you grow in Christ you are shown why sin ruins your life and submitting to Christ is the only way to overcome sin that plagues your life. In addition if you admire the characteristics of God grace and learn to love you will want to adopt the characteristics that Christ will teach you.
Understand this, God is only asking you to live the way he does. He is not going to ask you to do anything that is vulgar, violates his laws or harmful to anyone. Considering that there is no police force in the kingdom of God, eternal life requires a personal discipline to maintain peace in God’s kingdom. It’s a matter of choice, as no one will ever force you to obey God. No one but you can choose to discipline his or her life to avoid sin to maintain a relationship with God.
God is love and his law demands that we love God and our fellow man. The priority to love anyone insists on building and maintaining relationships to endure a lifetime. When your lifetime will last an eternity the motivation to love becomes extremely beneficial.
Christian life is not easy when we attempt to live it without God’s help. Men do not have the power to defeat Satan and his cohorts without complete submission to our Lord. The war with sin takes place within our lives, but the battles with Satan takes place in the spiritual realms where God rules. God fights our battles for us, but the Christian life demands that we trust the promise of God that no one can snatch us from God’s hand and not one of his promises has ever failed us. God has given us his promises so we may partake in them to escape the corruption of this world.
However, God is not going to do everything for us. It’s our responsibility to spend time with God learning his promises and applying them to overcome the world. Having a life with God demands your participation to become more Christlike for you to be able to say I have overcome the world with God’s help.
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