Destroying the works of the devil

 This week's verses are 1 John 3:7-8:

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

 In these verses, the apostle John talks about practicing sin versus practicing righteousness, and what that means for the Kingdom of God. To understand them, we have to understand what "practicing" means versus just doing. Practicing is a more official, continuous, habitual thing, whereas doing is just doing.

If you give a bandage to your friend who banged their knee and tell them to take some aspirin later if it still hurts, are you practicing medicine? Is someone going to ask to see your medical credentials and make you put an MD after your name if you offer a sick person a hot bowl of chicken soup? No! It's not the same thing as actually being a doctor.

If you are practicing medicine, you usually go to school for it, and take a medical exam, and intern with doctors, and work for a business that calls itself a clinic or a hospital, and you have licenses and insurance and so on to go with it. If you're practicing medicine, it's a big part of your life. It's official and out in the open. You have decided that this is what you're going to do, not just now and then, but for the main part of your life.

If you take a vacation, or if you're out sick, are you no longer allowed to tell people you are practicing medicine? Do you stop being called a doctor? Is there a representative from the medical board waiting at the airport to take your credentials away until you get back from Acapulco? No, because it's a general statement about who you are and what you do.

And that's part of what John is saying about sin and righteousness. It's about how you have chosen to live your life, and where you have set your values. If you make one mistake, you don't lose your salvation. The blood of Christ still pays for that sin. When you've hung your shingle out for people to see that you are practicing righteousness, and you make an effort to show up every day, you are considered to be as righteous as Jesus himself, thanks to his gift of salvation.

On the other hand, if you do good things a lot, but you've decided to live for yourself, with all of the sin that naturally comes with it, you are not righteous. The good things you do don't make up for the fact that you are not practicing righteousness. You are practicing sin. Sin is the main thing you have chosen to pursue. You are a licensed, certified, dues-paying practitioner of sin.

The devil is the original practitioner of sin. He is the one who first said to God, "I don't want to live the way you want me to live. I want to live the way I want to live, and I will still be a good person in my eyes, and in the eyes of anyone else I can convince to join me. I don't need you. I am enough." If that's the main narrative of our lives, we're practicing sin, not righteousness. It doesn't matter how good people say we are.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. From the beginning the devil has tried to trick and tempt us into leaving the path of righteousness to join him in Hell, but Jesus went to the cross to make sure that would not happen. When we practice righteousness, and take on Jesus' righteousness, we are part of Jesus' work to set things right. We are officially on the winning team, even if we lose the occasional battle ourselves along the way.

So, what is your daily practice? Are you destroying the works of the devil or are you becoming one? If you're practicing sin, it's not to late to change "careers." The Holy Spirit offers all the help you need to make a better choice.