In our reading from St. John this morning, the apostle warns us about the danger of living in sin as a Christian, the danger of making a practice of sin, of giving ourselves over to a life of hatred. “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning,” says John. “whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”
Ok, well, which of us isn’t condemned by these words? Which of us can look at his life and feel confident? How do I know that I’m practicing righteousness sufficiently? How do I know that I love my brother enough? How do I know if my sin is a practice or if it’s just stumbling? How can I know I’m really a Christian if sin is still swarming around me? John’s answer is simple, though it has somehow eluded many people: Stop looking to yourself and look to Christ, the one who laid down his life for you.
There’s a sense in which this is like being invited to a king’s palace to eat some cake. The rules are that those who eats the cake can live with the king in his palace forever. (The cake, of course, is Jesus.) Some people will not eat the cake and they will not be welcome to stay. Others will eat it. So what do you do when your conscience tells you that you haven’t eaten the cake? Eat the cake. What do you do when you fear that you haven’t eaten enough cake? Eat the cake. What do you do when you worry that you might stop eating the cake? Eat the cake. What do you do when you should have been eating the cake but were devouring something worthless and vile instead? Eat the cake.
Looking to yourself won’t put the cake in your mouth. Stop looking to yourself. Turn from your sins, let go of them. Stop committing them and stop being haunted by them. Look to the cross of Christ. Remember your baptism. Trust in the salvation that was poured out for you. Stop looking at your sins and look to the One who was pierced for your sins at Calvary and rose for your justification on the third day. If you want confidence, if you want peace, if you want to know that the cake really, truly is for you, eat the cake.
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