1 John 3:9 - Being Born Again Is The Death Of Sin.
1 John 3:9; Being Born Again Is The Death Of Sin.
1 John 3:9 (NIV) No one who is born of God will continue to
sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning,
because he has been born of God.
I remember when I was in grade school I had to do an
experiment growing a lima bean. I guess education hasn't advanced all that
much, because now, 50 years later, the nine-year-old in our house has
grown a lima been too. But what's interesting is that, the sprouting
plant will always grow toward the sun. Somehow the life of the bean is
drawn toward the light. You can turn the plant around, even lay it on
its side. Whatever you do, the sprout will orient toward the sun.
That's what John was saying about us when he wrote, "No one
who lives in Him keeps on sinning" (v. 6). The NIV captures the
vital tense of the verb. It's not that a Christian never sins. It's
that believers will not "keep on sinning." John said the reason is
that God's seed--the principle of divine life --has been planted in our
personalities. God's life within us grows in the direction of godliness. His
life is oriented toward purity. And if God's life really is in us,
there will be a definite tilt toward what is right, and away from
sin.
Anyone may sin at times, and in all likelihood will. But you
can still tell the DIRECTION in which a person is growing. And so
can everyone else! [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
The victorious Christian life sometimes seems elusive. Some
teach a sinless perfection here on earth before the return of Jesus.
But our verse today clarifies that misconception and helps us
understand how the victorious life in Christ is to be attained. We must
look at the general character of our life which is made up of the
things we do, and how we customarily respond to the details and
circumstances of life. Look at your initial reaction to difficulties you
encounter. Is your first response foul language in thought or word? Or have
you learned to send the beginnings of such responses to your God?
These are the habit patterns of life. Be aware, God allows us to see
what we need to change in our lives, so we may give them to Him and
replace a sinful response with the Spirit's control. Then we have
victory in that area of our life. You can have victory. Learn from God
and depend on His Word and Spirit. [In His Time; Walk With Wisdom]
"Glorious God, give me grace to amend my life, and to have an
eye to my end without begrudging death, which to those who die in
You, good LORD, is the gate of a wealthy life.
"And give me, good LORD, a humble, lowly, quiet, peaceable,
patient, charitable, kind, tender and pitiful mind, in all my works and
in all my words and all my thoughts, to have a taste of Your holy,
blessed Spirit.
"Give me, good LORD, a full faith, a firm hope, and a fervent
charity, a love of You incomparably above the love of myself.
"And give me, good LORD, Your love and favour, which my love
of You, however great it might be, could not deserve were it not
for Your great goodness.
"These things, good LORD, I pray for, give me Your grace to
labour for." Thomas More [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
Luke 9:23 (KJV) And he said to them all, If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow me.
James 4:7-8 (KJV) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you.
Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Galatians 2:20 (KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me.
How do we deny self, no longer live for ourselves and be
crucified with Christ?
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