Guided out so we can be guided in

 I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s. Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments. (I John 2:1)

Ever break a commandment? I can honestly say I have broken more than one! No wonder God is so intent on 'guiding us out of sin' - he knows our propensity toward breaking those doggone things! We ALL sin - break commandments - but we don't have to try to find our way out of our sinful condition on our own. Our attempts to get this 'sin problem' under control in our lives is a feeble attempt to get things 'right'. God's plan was to 'solve the sin problem for good' - not just give us a temporary fix for the sin problem. 

We get to know God and in turn, we get to understand how it is we break free from this constant battle with sin in our lives. We begin to see the futility of trying to be good and we settle into allowing God to show us how to be good. We appreciate the value of the commandments - as boundaries inside which we find protection from sin's downward spiral. Stay within the boundaries - know peace. Move outside those boundaries - reap an abundance of chaotic mess in your life.

How does God 'guide us out of sin'? It is more than providing the means - he also provides the guidance. If I have a cookbook, the ingredients, and the necessary appliances to create a meal, but don't follow the recipe within the cookbook, how well do you think the meal will turn out? The Word of God is kind of like the 'recipe book' for living well - the means by which we see the life change that frees us from the powerful pull of sin in our life.

We also have the Holy Spirit in our lives - like the cooking show host that not only shares the recipe, but shows us how to put all the ingredients together, one-by-one until there is this perfect combination of ingredients that result in the finished product. When we can see something done well, don't we want to emulate what we have seen? The Holy Spirit actually opens our eyes to the examples given to us (in scripture and in real life) so we appreciate the 'perfect combination of ingredients' that goes into a life 'well lived'. 

We will break a few commandments - but we have the perfect means by which to learn to live within those boundaries. Just sayin!