Read: 1 John 3:4-10
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. (vv. 4-5)
Our local newspaper recently ran an article on a household of teenagers who have been terrorizing an upscale neighborhood. One man decided to call the police about them. He has paid the price ever since. His house has been vandalized and he has received threats that worse will happen. “It’s been a nightmare,” he told a reporter. “Those teenagers are out of control. Even the police are intimidated.”
“Sin is lawlessness,” John writes (v. 4). It relishes wrongdoing, creates disorder, loves chaos. Children rebel against their parents and parents spoil or neglect their children. Workers disrespect their bosses and bosses, in turn, exploit workers. Friends betray each other, husbands and wives violate their vows, the wealthy spend their money foolishly, ignoring the needs of the poor, while the poor squander what little they have. These are the fruits of sin.
Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, to defeat lawlessness, and to restore God’s good order in the world (v. 8). Jesus therefore commands us to live in the good order he has created for our benefit and protection (v. 6). We do that best when we love God above all, and love everyone and everything else to his glory.
As you pray, thank God for his perfect design for your life, for the good order he has created. Ask for the courage to live under his perfect order.
Jerry Sittser is a professor emeritus of theology and senior fellow at Whitworth University. He specializes in the history of Christianity, Christian spirituality, and religion in American public life. As an author, he has written nine books.
