Wednesday, July 4

Now and Not Yet

Narrative Lectionary Daily Devotions written by Kace Leetch from Clergy Stuff.

Anyone who is remotely self-aware knows that the words of 1 John 3 today are only partly true. "Those who have been born of God do not sin." We are born of God. And yet we sin. It's because we live in the "now and not yet." God is here now. God's promise of eternal life is a reality for us now. We are able, from time to time, to live opposite sin now. 

At the same time, the fullness of God's kingdom becoming a reality on earth is not yet. Our ability to live without sin is not yet. We live in the tension of this pull toward sin and toward God. Sometimes we will win. Sometimes we will not. But one day we will win ultimately and forever.

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Narrative Lectionary Text: 1 John 3:9-10

Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.