Thursday after the Last Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on November 26, 2020 by under
Scripture: 1 John 3:1-12 (NKJV)
3:3 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Devotion
“Lawlessness” is the rejection of the Law and, therefore, of the Lawgiver (cf. 2 Thess. 2:3-4, 8). You who have been baptized into Christ and trust Him as the One who takes away your sin are not “lawless”, though. You are not “abiding in” sin, but Christ’s seed—the Word of God (Mark 4:14, 1 Pet. 1:23)—remains in you to destroy the works of the devil, freeing you from the sin your flesh would embrace. St. Paul also writes about this “Mystery of Godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16): godliness is not gained by your behavior, but is to be expressed by it, being produced entirely through Him who was manifested to take away our sins and in connection with whom there is no sin.
John wrote just two chapters earlier that if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in us, and we call God a liar! Yet, here he teaches us that while our flesh leads us to stumble into sin, this is not allowed to contradict God’s having called us His children and heirs. He has given it to us to confess our sins, and He who is faithful and just also forgives us and cleanses us (1 John 1:7-10). Apart from faith in such absolution for Jesus’ sake, we could not do righteousness, but with our sin forgiven, God shows righteousness as all we do (Matt. 25:31-46), so long as we remain in this repentance and faith—a true comfort as the world speeds toward the Judgment Day!
Prayer: O, Holy Spirit, help us glory only in Christ’s cross, that we may confess and flee from our sins and cling to Holy Absolution, won for us there. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
