14Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. (John 5:1-15)
Jesus said that sin causes the tragedies of our lives. He asks us to live holy lives because if we give in to sin, we yield ourselves to Satan, the author of sin. Yielding to sin is yielding to a person—Satan. God doesn’t impute sin to believers (Rom. 4:8), but the devil does. Therefore, our actions either release the power of Satan or the power of God in us.
Although God is not imputing our sins unto us, we cannot afford the folly of sin because it allows Satan to have access to us. When we sin, we give the devil an opportunity to produce death in our lives. The way to stop this is to confess the sin. First John 1:9 says that God is faithful and just to release forgiveness and wipe out that sin in our flesh. The blood of Jesus continually removes Satan and his strongholds from our lives.
Our sins don’t make us sinners any more than the righteous acts of unbelievers make them righteous before God. Sin is a deadly thing that even Christians should avoid at all costs, but whether or not we sin does not determine our standing with God. Born-again believers are in Christ. They are not “in” the flesh even though they may choose to walk “after” the flesh from time to time.
What is your motive for living a holy life? You live holy supernaturally because your nature has been supernaturally changed. You have been given God’s nature. Today, do not live holy in order to obtain relationship with God; live holy because of the relationship you already have with Him.
