Reason #13: God Commands It

Finally, the last reason to want freedom from sin is the simplest one of all.  If we call ourselves children of God, and if we profess to believe in Him and His Son Jesus, who died for our sins so we could live forever with God, then we also believe in obeying His word.  Do what He says.  It’s not flashy or headline-grabbing, and won’t make too many billboards, but at the end of the day, do you really need any other reason?

God commands us to be free from sin, and that’s a good enough reason by itself to want it.  He does so in the Old and New Testaments, so this is not about covenants.  This has been God’s desire and plan for humanity from the beginning of time.

Rev 18:4, 5
Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins, and so that you will not receive of her plagues, because her sins reached as far as heaven, and God remembered her wrongs. (NT Transline)

The “her” in this section refers to the city of Babylon, which represents the world system of culture and morality.  God’s ultimate plan and desire for all of us–that’s all with an ‘A’, not just the white Americans, not just Republicans, not just virgins until marriage, not just people who don’t swear, not just people who speak English without an accent–but for all of us to be saved from the world system of sin and corruption, of immorality and perversion, of pain and suffering, of violence and exploitation and greed, and brought into His presence for all time.  And no one is too far gone that they can’t be saved.  There are stories of child-soldiers in Africa turning to God, of former al-Qaida members, of prostitutes and porn stars (yes, they’re people too), of lifelong atheists turning from lives of self-absorption and being transformed by the power and mercy of God.  Even self-righteous Americans can be saved.  God’s mercy has no limits.  Anyone can be yanked from the world system, if they realize how much better life is outside it.

So God asks us to try real hard to not sin.  No, He commands us to “Come out of her, my people.”  Depart from evil and turn and do good.  The Old Testament is full of various commands very similar to this.  Isaiah 52:11 is one example.

Our response as Christians is very simple then.  God commands us to divorce ourselves from any sin that clings to us, and we do this by clinging to God.  As we do so, He cleanses us and strengthens us to pull even farther away from our past enslavement.  The decision is instantaneous.  The process takes time.

We want freedom from sin because God commands it, and it is His will for us, now and for all eternity.