One of the reasons we Christian humans don’t live without sin is that when we start to believe that we have stopped sinning we accidently slip into the sin of pride and become modern religious Pharisees. That’s so easy to do and to not even realize that we are doing it. Yes, we have power over sin, but the devil deceives us into believing we are without sin long before we really are. Then we are eager to “cast the first stone” at those we see as still sinners. Paul who as a Pharisee thought he was holy, persecuted and tried to kill the Christians because he thought they were sinning against the Law. History shows that self-righteousness is perhaps a very dangerous sin. Because of that sin, the Pharisees had Jesus executed by Rome. After leaving the Pharisees to follow and obey the living Jesus, Paul saw the truth and wrote in Scripture: “I am the chief of sinners,” “O wretched man that I am,” and “I know that within me, that is within my flesh dwells no good thing.” I’ve never seen those biblical truths on a bumper sticker.

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” (1 John 1:8) It’s easy to overlook our unintentional sins (and our sins that we do in unawareness) and to think we’re sinless when we’re not. Here’s an example: Quenching the Spirit is a sin. Unless we do every single thing that the Spirit tells us to without resisting Him in any way, we sin by quenching the Spirit. If we miss the mark (even once–even a tiny bit) we sin. Anywhere or anytime I’m not perfectly aligned with God’s will, I am sinning. It’s easy to overlook our unintentional sins (and our sins that we do in unawareness) and to think we’re sinless when we’re not. Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.