Thoughts on I John 3

I'm just going to share some random thoughts today.

This past week my wife and I were talking while driving in the car, and the subject of heaven and God's forgiveness came up. I kind of "went off on her" ... much to both of our surprise ...

She said something like, "I think God can forgive ..."

Well I said, "I KNOW God can forgive ... There isn't a sin in the world God can't forgive or else He isn't God."

The sin doesn't matter, because if you follow this blog you know I've posted multiple times that in God's eyes sin is sin.

So there will be drunkards in heaven. There will be liars in heaven. There will be homosexuals in heaven. There will be gluttons in heaven. There will be gossips in heaven. There will be ...

Because as Paul said in I Corinthians 6:11 (NIV), "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

But today I read I John 3:

"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother or sister." I John 3:6, 8-10 (NIV)

This is what makes the Bible so hard to understand sometimes. I believe there is no sin God cannot forgive. I also believe that as imperfect, fallen creatures we will sin. I demonstrate that on a daily basis.

I think I understand what John is saying here. He is saying that if you are a true follower of Jesus, you will change. You won't live daily in the same sin to which you were enslaved before finding Christ. And, when you do sin as a Christ-follower, you will repent and confess your sin.

This ties in with John's writing in his Gospel where Jesus says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." (John 15:5 & 8 - NIV)

I am not God, so I can't answer if a person who is a practicing gluttony at their death will be in heaven. I can't say if a habitual liar, lying until the day they die, will be in heaven. God is the just and perfect judge.

All I know is that as I "lean into God" ... I desire to be more like him and less like the old me. I want to bear fruit. I want to give generously to those in need, to help those who cannot help themselves, to share the grace I've so generously received.

It is a process, and even though I struggle, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14 - NIV)