Day 25- April 2

God’s  Plan

I John 3:5-10

     “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in him there is no sin.  Whoever abides in Him does not sin.  Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.  Little children, let no one deceive you.  He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.  Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.  In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

God’s plan is this: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

When we trust God’s plan and accept Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior, we now abide in Him.  When we abide in Him, we should no longer live in sin but in the light of the glorious gospel of Christ.  The general rule, then, is that the Christian does not habitually practice sin, and the person who does continually engage in sin has never come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

There is a reminder in verse 7 for “Little Children” of God to let no man deceive you into sinning.  The world, (The Devil), wants to convince us that it is no big deal to sin.  Everyone is doing.  We should want to fit in.  Well, that’s just not the truth!  We are to be set apart from the world.  We are to be different from the world.  We cannot serve two masters.  These are all truths from God and His Word.  Sin is incompatible with the Christian life as stated in 3:8 “He that commits sin is of the devil.”  Here again, we are talking a practice of sin.  Since sin finds its source in the devil, it is manifestly inconsistent for the believer to engage in its practice.  God’s child does not engage in the continual practice of sin because, by reason of his spiritual heredity, it is contrary to his nature.  In fact, John (in our passage) declares that he “cannot sin, because he is born of God” (3:9).  As a member of the family of God, may we be known by the characteristic practice of righteousness.  God’s plan = “do not sin.”

- GM