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There’s no way we can live sinless lives. The standard of perfection on this earth was set and achieved by only one man, Jesus Christ. Knowing that we cannot achieve sinless perfection should not discourage us from striving to sin less. There’s no way we can live a sinless life; however, we should strive to live a life of less sin. 

We fail God every day due to our Adamic nature. In the third chapter of Genesis, Adam and Eve sinned for the first time, and this sinful nature is passed on to everyone, no matter who we are. Paul tells us in Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” With that being said, although there is no way to live a sinless life, we should never stop striving for sinlessness. 

In our day, so many try to justify and make excuses for their sin, choosing to focus on the God of forgiveness and 1 John 1:9,  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I am thankful that we have a God who is a God of forgiveness, but we should never continue in sin just because we know God will forgive us.  “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2) 

If we aren’t careful, we will get caught up in the act of comparing our sins to the sins of others. We try to convince ourselves that our sins are acceptable and justify ourselves with the age-old excuse, “Nobody is perfect.” It is true that nobody is perfect, and no one can live sinless. But the Bible says in  1 Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” The writer of Hebrews admonishes us with the words, “let us go on unto perfection;” (Hebrews 6:1) Again, I completely understand that we are not going to be perfect, BUT we should set our goals high!

Jesus said, “I do always those things that please Him.” (John 8:29) Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

The golfer may score over par, but he must always be trying for a hole-in-one or an eagle. The bowler may have a split or even a gutter ball, but he must be pushing for a strike next time. The baseball player must not be satisfied with a single or a double, but must always be striving for a home run. Is your aim high enough? Someone once said, “If we aim at nothing, we will hit it every time.” The mark is perfection, and if at first we don’t succeed, we must try again. 

This week, instead of trying to justify our sins, may we pray each day that God will help us to live a life of less sin. Let’s “press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God.”