Day 1: John 17:15-17

The problem of sin

I throw a question: Can we truly call someone a saint who does not wrestle with the issue of sin?  The reason is that the term 'saint' signifies one who is set apart from the sinful world.  The responsibility of a saint is to separate themselves from the sinful world.  In other words, a saint is meant to live a life separated from sin.  Just as water and oil cannot mix, so too, as children of light, saints should not be yoked with the darkness of the world.  In order to live in this way, we saints must have a clear sense of belonging.  We do not belong to this world (Jn. 17:16), but we belong to the Lord who is the Light.  We must never forget this.  Furthermore, in order to avoid falling into evil, we must pray like Jesus (v. 15) and strive to be sanctified by the truth (v. 17).  If we neglect this, we should fear God's discipline, for because God loves us, He will discipline us if we do not confess our sins.