What is Sin???

   Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him. Little children let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin because he is born of God. 1 John 3:6-9

   What is sin? Sin is the willful act of disobeying God, doing something that you know is not pleasing unto him. A person who has been born again cannot sin because their heart is intent on pleasing God. If their heart is intent on pleasing God then they will not disobey him. The seed of God is in him. If a person is no longer following God then they can sin because their heart is not intent on God and they walk away from the Father who protects them. Our Father will guide us in the paths of righteousness if we will listen but that is part of our responsibility.
   When God created man he created him in his image. He wanted a creature who would worship him of his own free will. That was why he put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. He told Adam do not eat of this tree. Any other tree is fine but don't eat of this one. Now God knew that Satan would appear to tempt them. But God wanted his creature to overcome the temptation and obey him. He wanted a creature who would worship him because they desired to. He gave man that ability to choose. That was a decision that Adam and Eve had to make. There was no sin in the garden until Adam disobeyed.
   Satan did not make them eat of the fruit, he just made it desirable to them, he made it sound like something wonderful to eat. They didn't think about what God thought of it at that time they only thought of themselves. They wanted it because they thought it would be good for them they could be as God. Somewhere along the line they forgot about what God told them to do and they disobeyed. This is where the sin entered the world, thru disobedience.
   Have you ever told a child not to do something? Most of the time if you tell them not to do something that is the first thing they will do. For example if you tell a child don't climb the tree its too high you might break your arm, even if they had never thought of climbing that tree before the next thing you know they are right up in the middle of the tree. They did it because it was desirous to them. Or don't eat the cookies you'll spoil your dinner well even if they weren't really that hungry they think a cookie would be awfully good. So off to the cookie jar they go. Children must be taught to obey just as the Spirit will try to teach us to obey. We are the children of God and we must learn obedience. As long as we obey him we will not sin however by disobeying we sin.
   In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God...1 John 3:10
   This is how we know who are the children of God or not. The people who do not follow the righteousness of God are not his children. There is no halfway in between. Either you are a child of God and will not sin or you are a child of the devil and you will sin. You cannot be a child of God and still sin. Now I want to point out here that sin is the willful act of not following what the spirit of God has told us. We all say things that maybe we shouldn't and that is what we have an advocate there for. When we do something unintentionally that God is not pleased with we feel an immediate guilty feeling or bad feeling; we feel unclean. That is God's way of saying you shouldn't do this, very similar to the guilt trips we use to get our children to do what we want them to. That is when we need to stop right then and ask forgiveness. We didn't intentionally do something wrong but that is how he corrects us to keep it from happening again. If we intentionally go out and do it again then it is an act of sin. We have been told not to do it but yet we still do, this is an act of willful disobedience.
   If God did not want us to learn to overcome temptations then he would not let them come in our path. If he wanted everything for us to be easy then he would not allow us to make mistakes. If he did not want a people who would humble themselves and ask for forgiveness when we stumble he would never have sent his son to die on the cross for our sins. If God had wanted someone to follow blindly and never learn to obey he would never have put the tree of knowledge in the garden to start with. If it had not been there then Adam would never have been tempted and humans would have served God without the choice of doing it of their own free will.
   Let us ask God today to keep our hearts and minds on him. Let him guide our footsteps in the paths of righteousness. Let us learn to listen to the chidings of the Father when he corrects us for not being exactly where he wants us to be in his fellowship.