Day 20

If you don’t understand the law of God, you can be up to your neck in sin and be oblivious to the fact that it is sin.

‘Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.’ (1 JOHN 3:4)

I remember hearing a well-known preacher being interviewed on a CNN chat show. This preacher had a very positive message about abundant life. At one point he was asked where sin, judgment and hell fit into what he preached. The guy smiled and said something like, ‘Well, I don’t get into things like that. People know things are wrong – you don’t have to tell them. I just tell them about the good things that God will do for them.’

The word ‘sin’ means to miss the mark. We do not know what sin is unless we know the target we have missed. The Bible says, ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). We’ve missed the mark of God’s glory – God’s character. God gave the law to reveal His moral character, which is why sin is both ‘breaking the law’ and ‘coming short of the glory of God.’ unless we face the fact of sin, we will not find the solution to it. If sin is ‘coming short of the glory of God,’ the solution is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Colossians 1:27). What we have come short of, He is our hope of reaching. If we don’t know the nature of sin, we do not know the nature of salvation, for that is the issue it addresses. Christ died to forgive us, and rose again to live His life in us so that we might be equipped for a life of godliness.

Lord, I’m grateful for Your gift of forgiveness and the gift of your Spirit.