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In order to live holy and blameless lives we have to know what the standards are, don’t we? And we need a clear understanding of the Bible’s standards for our lives. Well, the Bible is very clear.

First John 3:4 tells us that sin is lawlessness—the breaking of God’s law. So anytime I knowingly and willingly think, say, or do something that I know God would not approve of, that is sin. That’s what I have to stop doing.

James 4:17 says that when we know what we should do and we don’t, that is sin. This digs a little deeper into the nature of sin, for now I’m responsible for what I fail to do which I know I should. These are the things I should start doing.

Then, Romans 14:23 tells me that anything that is not of faith is sin. This gets to motive. You remember the story of the little boy who was forced to sit down, but even though he sat, he mumbled, “I’m sitting on the outside but I’m standing on the inside.” Lots of us are doing right things, but not of faith, and that is sin.

We are operating with zero defects when we are not knowingly breaking any of God’s commands in our lives. Secondly, zero defects will require us to check out what we know we should be doing, but aren’t. Those things have to be corrected. And then, there’s the constant challenge to be sure that we are operating in faith with the right motives; otherwise it’s sin.

Now, I realize that’s a high standard but if we don’t set our goals there, we’ll settle for so much less than we have to. Second Corinthians 7:1 says we are to “purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

What do you think might be contaminating—spoiling, if you will—your body? Wrong eating; lack of exercise? What about your spirit? Reading or watching junk instead of feeding on good things? You’ll never perfect holiness in your life until you clean out the stuff that contaminates it. I challenge you to get serious about living in zero defects.