John tells us that we have to practice righteousness and not sinfulness (1 John 3:7-8). This is the key to abiding in Christ.
Many will say, just believe…have faith…confess your sins…free gift…then you have a reservation in heaven…and they place little emphasis on practicing righteousness, which is “abiding in Christ.”
However, we say, “receive Christ by faith and be baptized in One Spirit”—that’s being reconciled to God—”then get on with the business of abiding in Him and getting to know Him.”
The Bible tells us clearly in many places that the expectation of being righteous is left up to us. Allow me give you a few examples:
1. We are called upon to acknowledge the fact that we are “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” It is up to us to “not let sin reign in our bodies.” It is up to us to “not present our bodies as instruments for sin,” rather, “to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1).
- ESV Romans 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness [My underline].
2. It is up to us to “clothe ourselves” in Christ.
- ESV 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” [My underline].
- NLT Romans 13:14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires [My underline].
- ESV Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
- ESV Colossians 3:8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
- ESV Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
- ESV Colossians 3:12-13 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
3. God has given us everything we need to be able to comply with these commands; to be able to obey and follow Jesus:
- NLT 2 Peter 1:3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.