No Sin In 5 Years

NO SIN IN FIVE YEARS!A Contemporary Example Related to First JohnI was waiting for a train at Sydney's Wynyard Station when a rather unassuming middle-aged man approached me. "Would you mind," he said very pleasantly, "if I were to give a philosophical thought for the year?"I acceded to his request, nodding affirmatively to him. After all, it had indeed recently become a new year. His thought seemed meticulously balanced between that which is distinctly Christian and raw, basic humanism. Still, I saw no reason to dispute what he had expressed so kindly. So, I looked him squarely in the eye and abruptly asked, "Are you a Christian?"His eyes flashed with excitement. "Yes!" he cried. Then softening his voice, he added, "Not only am I a Christian, but I have not sinned in five years!"I was literally shocked! Never in my life had anyone said anything like that to me. And giving way to spontaneous thought, I blurted aloud, "You're a liar!" I could hardly believe I had said it. My mother would have been appalled. I was taught from the earliest of my formative years never to call one a liar, especially in such a direct manner. But, I had done it.The shockwave of my words showed clearly on the face of my new acquaintance; and while he fumbled to find a reply, I continued what must have seemed a veritable dynamic diatribe to him. "Whatever you may have attained over the past five years," I said forcefully, "you lost a moment ago when you said you hadn't sinned. The Bible says that 'if we say that we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar, and the truth does not abide within us."There! It was out. All of it. I had said what I believed the Spirit of God had put in my mouth to say. There was nothing more. I bade the gentleman good-day.Recovering somewhat from the sting of my abruptness, he now reached out to me again, begging me to take the train with him instead of the one on which I was waiting. "You can change trains where I depart," he insisted. But, his insistence met my resistence. I boarded the train for Sutherland Shire and home.Many years have passed since that "chance encounter." I've often wondered just who the man was and what became of him. Those factors must now rest with God. Yet, I live in conscious prayerfulness that the LORD, who put those words in my mouth that sunny day in Sydney, used them to touch the life of a man seemingly devoid of the grace and forgiveness of God.Gene L. Jeffries