If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death.
There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.
I JOHN 5:16-18
This bible verses pose different questions to us as believers and even soon to be believers in Christ Jesus.
- Like Are sinners condemned to eternal death?
- Are Believers able to still commit sin?
- Are there sins that are unforgivable?
- Didn’t Christ die for all of our sins?
For lack of precise words to answer these questions and others that you may have from studying the above verses, I will touch on stories from people in the bible that may shed some light.
Peter, the apostle was a believer and in fact he walked closely with Jesus Christ but still was capable of committing the sin of publicly denying Jesus Christ. Was he forgiven? Yes, he was! After he broke down in tears, feeling remorseful for his actions and begged for forgiveness.
So yes! A believer can sin against God and may be able to ask for forgiveness. Luke 22:34- 62
But sadly, many have not been able to repent of their sins before their death or irreversible judgement as the case may be. For example David who is the man after God’s heart slept with another man’s wife and connived to kill the man-Uriah. When David realized his sin, he was repentant and begged God for forgiveness.
God in His mercies forgave Him but the living God is a just God, a God of order and therefore David had to be punished for his actions. God’s judgement through Nathan to David went thus:
The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” . II Samuel 12:14-15
From the above word from the Lord, we can infer that any form of sin gives darkness(enemies of God) a chance to brood, that is why Apostle John in I John 5:17 says that all wrongdoings is considered as sin. Darkness and its agents are only able to breathe,thrive and carry out their evil task in a life where sin is found.
David’s punishment did not stop at just losing a child but he was going to lose his wives, he was going to have enemies from within his household.( His own son Amnon raped his daughter Tamar and Absalom eventually killed his brother Amnon) II Samuel 13:1- 21, II Samuel 13:23-38
And then David’s son secretly plotted to overthrow his father and even kill his own father. II Samuel 15:1-37
This is why it is advisable to try the very best to keep away from sin because it is through sin that many challenges are able to gain entrance into lives. King David could have avoided all the that befell him if only he had said no to sin that crouched at his door. II Samuel 11:2-6
He perhaps wouldn’t have had to go through the a phase:
- where he grieved for the loss of his sons,
- was faced with the shame from the rape of his daughter, Tamar
- where he had to run into hiding from his throne.
Another sad story of the repercussion of sin is the story of Ananias and Sapphira who were couples who had sold some of their possessions and brought a portion of the proceeds. They had the choice to be truthful about what they made and how much they were giving to the church of God but they decided to lie about it all. And sadly, they both died there and then without the chance to repent of their sins- Acts 5:1-9
And the last story I will touch on is the story of Judas Iscariot who allowed sin to eat him up till his death. He had greed in him which he nurtured and allowed to birth into other forms of sin in his life. Like his betrayal of Jesus christ was born out of his greed to make more money, only If he had been conscious, repented earlier, he did not have to be the man to betray Jesus Christ.
But sadly, there is a way sin operates, once it eats deep into a man’s soul. The man starts to think and act in ways that lead to death only, and that was what Judas Iscariot did unfortunately. He took his own life which is a sin in its ownself; I can only but imagine the great things he could have done and we would have read about only if he did not give sin a chance.
Therefore I write to you my dear friends in faith and friends soon to be in faith to arken to the voice of Jesus who is calling us to a life free from sin. So that after all is said and done here on earth, we can all spend eternity free of pain and suffering with Christ Jesus.
Let us live every moment of our lives with consciousness that there are repercussions for all our actions.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1
Renewing of our minds is a continuous process; more like a daily process of measuring our minds, our motives, our actions, our lifestyles against the standards of God.
This way we would keep transforming into lives that please God and it will become more difficult to commit sin or worse off commit sin that leads to death or irreversible judgement.
And as believers, let us keep praying for the salvation of lost souls around us as we tell and share with them the love of Christ.
May we not die but live and have eternal life through Christ Jesus. Amen
Photo credit: Stephany Lorena