You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3: 5-8

I’ve been taking pictures since I was a kid. I still have the first camera I purchased and I remember shopping for lenses I could afford at K-mart. Well. Over the last few years, I’ve been learning how to use my camera more effectively to get the kind of shot I want and grow in my proficiency with the tool. So  I read manuals and blogs, watch instructional videos, and experiment by taking a lot of photos in the hope of learning to be a better photographer.

The passage above speaks of something much more important. We are to “practice righteousness” and avoid making a “practice of sinning.”

In the passage above, John also addresses two practices.  The first is the idea that a person who is following Christ does not continue to practice what he or she knows is sin and offensive to the idea of Christ’s righteousness.

In contrast, the person who follows Christ closely grows more and more. “Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous.”

And then there are those who continue to make sin a regular practice with no repentance, no turning to God at all.

Let’s put faith into practice.