Sin attracts sin. Our own consciences are soothed with a false balm when others participate in our wrongdoing. We can justify our disobedience when it seems like "everyone is doing it." Practicing righteousness grows holiness in one's life, but practicing sin leads one further into spiritual darkness. John has been clear that only the righteous are true believers. And such a believer will always feel that his claim to be regarded as a righteous man is not to be traced to what he is in himself, but to what he owes to the grace of God. As God spoke to the Israelites, "You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own" (Lev. 20:26). Under the New Covenant we have a model for this holiness in the life of Jesus Christ.
Our human flesh has an innate propensity to sin, and when we sin we resemble the devil rather than reflecting the glory of God. Jesus' purpose on this earth was to destroy sin, both through his death and resurrection which give us the power to enter eternal life fully justified and through his teachings and Spirit which daily work to destroy sin in our lives on earth. Will you draw your inspiration today from the works of the devil or the teachings of the triune God?
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