ALL HAVE SINNED

1 John 1:9-10 (NIV) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

I believe we can safety say with few exceptions that everyone has at least one redeeming quality. Something that is good in them, no matter what evil they may have done in their lives. I knew someone once who was just a vile human being. While he claimed to be a Christian, the fruit inspector in me saw only withered fruit on his vine. Yet he loved children and dogs. He was a different person around them. With adults you could truly say he was a person who “didn’t play well with others”.

Do you sin? Did you know that if you claim to be void of sin or do not accept the fact that you are a sinner, then you are deceiving yourself. Now we know that once we receive Christ we are cleansed from our sins past, present and future. Christ’s sacrifice was once for all for all time. No further blood sacrifice is necessary to cleanse the sinful soul. However, do not fool yourself into thinking that you are now incapable of sinning. If you do, you are ripe for the picking by an enemy who is “seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

God gives us the power to avoid sin through His Holy Spirit. But to think you are never going to sin again is wrong thinking. If you are not where you should be in your walk with the Lord, then you are not much of a threat to the enemy, who only seeks to destroy that which God has built up. However, if you ARE striving to please God in all you do, living for Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, then you will be tested by Satan. God allows it to teach you to trust Him more. How will you react? Will you stumble, will you fall, will you fail miserably as I have so often in my walk with Christ? You might. Because we will never be literally perfect except in God’s sight until we reach heaven, our natural inclination may very well be to slack off on our Bible reading, skip our prayer time, stay home from church and end up doing that which does us no good spiritually or any other way. No, chances are we won’t run out and murder someone, but we will watch things we know are inappropriate; read things that do not edify or encourage; go places that we shouldn’t; do things we know we shouldn’t be doing. We call it fun. And while that may be true in many or even most cases, there are some times that we are simply asking for trouble to find us. Conviction is raging in our mind and body. We know. But we do it anyway. We won’t get carted off to hell for it, but it will stunt our spiritual growth until we get back on track.

Now I am not saying we aren’t allowed to have any fun. Far from it. We just have to redefine what our fun is. Fun as defined by the world involves, now more than ever, drinking, partying and having sex if you are part of the younger generation.
If you are older if might be adultery or lying, cheating or swindling others in business dealings. We sin. Don’t kid yourself. But God wants you to reach out to Him in those times and be cleansed again. Don’t let His grace become a cheap thing in your life. When you think of thinking, saying or doing something that you feel convicted about, picture in your mind’s eye what Christ willingly went through for you. He did that without hesitation, and if it were necessary, would do it again … for you and me. Don’t be the one putting the nails in his hands, for when we do that which we should not be doing, we crucify Christ all over again.

God loves you unconditionally. Don’t live your life without God at the helm of your ship. Don’t be a believer in name alone. Take your walk seriously and find the joy and peace God provides when you obey Him.

LIVE FOR GOD AND OTHERS TODAY AND BE A BLESSING !!