A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Dr. Larry Ollison)
Scripture for the Day (November 2, 2018)
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. (Jude 4-25)
Sin tries to creep into our lives on a regular basis. The devil is relentless. He does not give up. Just because someone decides to be a Christian and follow the things of God, does not mean that the devil backs off and says, “I’m not going to bother him anymore. He is seeking God so I’m just going to give him clear passage.” The devil doesn’t do that! The reason he doesn’t is that he sees every born-again believer as a threat to his kingdom (Deuteronomy 32:30).
God’s plan is for everything to reproduce after its own kind (Genesis 1). In a way, this is what we all do in our daily lives with our lifestyle. Some people are strong and are not influenced by things around them, but a lot are. In the world, leaders are few, but followers are many. If you take a strong stand toward purity in your life, of course not everyone will be influenced, but some will see your lifestyle and feel a draw to attain it for themselves.
Christians who are not living right and have sin in their lives will not influence the world; in fact, they will be a detriment to the kingdom of God. The devil will cause people to look at them and point and say, “Those people claim to be Christians and look at what they are doing.” The devil will use you as a good example of a bad example and people will be turned off toward Jesus. So as Christians we must live holy lives.
Yes, we can live lives that are above sin. Some people may say, “Well, I can’t do that because the Bible says that everyone sins.” The Bible says that everyone was born into sin, but it also says that he who is in Christ is without sin. (Psalm 51:5; Revelation 1:5.) You may say, “Well, how can that be?” The reason it’s true is that with the Spirit of God living in you, your spirit does not sin. We need to realize that we are three-part beings if we are going to be able to understand that scripture (1 Thessalonians 5:23). If we have received Jesus, it is our spirit that is born again, and becomes new. The Scripture says when we become born again, when we accept Jesus, that old things pass away and all things become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). That’s talking about our spirit. When we are born again, we become a new creature, a new creation, a new being in Christ. The old man (our flesh, our worldly ways) has died and we are resurrected (spiritually speaking) into new life.
The Scripture also tells us whoever is born of God does not sin, because the Spirit of God resides in him (1 John 3:9). That’s talking about the spirit of a born-again Christian. God renews our spirit day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). That’s why we are without sin.
However, we must renew the mind daily through the washing of the Word (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:26). That’s because the mind is not born again. Even though the spirit is born again, the mind needs to be renewed on a daily basis and that is our responsibility.
Likewise, the body is not born again. There will be a time when we will receive a new resurrected, glorified body. The apostle Paul talks about it, saying that in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52). He’s not talking there about our spirit because our spirit has already been changed. Our spirit is already born again. Our spirit is already without sin. But our bodies are changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and we become like Him.
With that in mind, we can understand that just because we are born again and our spirit is fresh and new and clean does not mean that our mind and body are. And the devil will work on us to try to get us to sin in our flesh. Even though we are born of God, we can still do things that are wrong that are sins.
This is why it is extremely important for Christians to renew our minds daily with the Word of God. Only then can we keep sin out of our lives and only then can we grow in holiness.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
