John 8:10-12 English Standard Version

¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

I Am the Light of the World

¹² Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Asks yourself this question; since God knows all things and that sin remains with us and tells us in 1^st John 1:8 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Then is telling her not to sin any more practical?

Practical is one of those words that distinguishes our ability to perform. This one sin she had been committing, the one she was about to be stoned for committing, was one sin she could walk away from. It was practical to ask her to leave that one sin. It was not practical to leave all sin for sin lives with us because we are human.

God heals us of a few things in this life that we are not able to escape. Once He frees us of those entanglements, He makes it practical to leave those sins alone. Yet we are warned about those sins we have left behind as we walk in His light.

Romans 6:6 English Standard Version (ESV) We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

If we consider ourselves dead to sin, then we will choose not to be entangled in it again. Those entanglements are of known sins. It is practical to expect the power to resist having tasted the results of those sins and the consequences of choice. It is like a warning sign saying to us, sin is ahead.

Philippians 1:6 English Standard Version (ESV) And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

There are lyrics to a song that state; “What have you done for me lately.”

There will always be moments when we might feel the same way about our Lord but those are emotions which are of the flesh and we need to remind ourselves of how far we have come on this walk with Christ. The longer we have been on the walk and the more Christ like we become, the less and less there is that needs to be worked on spiritually. It is after all a spiritual walk. We deal with our flesh daily and He gives us the strength to overcome but the flesh still remains.

This completion spoken of in Philippians is our translation into our incorruptible form. Until then the work in us is step by step and some of that takes longer than we have the patience to endure. That is the flesh complaining that it does not want to give up its hold on our soul.

James 1:2-4 English Standard Version

Testing of Your Faith

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The flesh will test our faith. We should not think that all trials are external being caused by the enemies of Christ. It is true that some trials are external to our souls but the ones that matter the most are the ones produced in us by our flesh. It seems easier to endure others than it does to endure ourselves. We have to live with ourselves and that can be trying.

That does not mean that Christ is finished with us yet. Patience is the fourth fruit of the spirit and faithfulness is the seventh. The last fruit is self-control.