7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.REFLECTIONSWritten by James DavidsonThis passage is a warning we must all take to heart. If we don’t we place ourselves in great spiritual danger. Don’t be led astray from the true Gospel by anyone who says that you can believe in Jesus but go on living the same way you did before you knew Jesus (v7). And don’t listen to anyone ‘who does what is sinful’, that is, whose life has not been transformed by following Jesus. (v8) It’s not preachers who say they do right that we should listen to, it’s preachers who actually do what is right, who have a proven track record of living godly lives. Jesus did not just talk about doing right, he did it! He was actually righteous in practice, not just in theory (v7b).Not that they need to be perfect. John has already told us that every believer still sins in 1:8-10. In fact, we should only listen to preachers who openly acknowledge that they are not perfect and are works in progress, but nevertheless, whose lives have been and are being transformed, particularly in their love for their Christian brothers and sisters (v10). Be very careful about following teachers whose lives you can’t see, because they’re on TV or the internet. It’s very hard to tell if they practice what they preach.What do you think is meant by God’s seed in v9? It could be God’s word because it lives in every Christian (2:14c). More likely it is God’s Spirit because John mentions him quite a bit (2:20,27; 3:24; 4:13).  In any case, both answers are true. We are born of God as God’s Spirit applies God’s word to our hearts.ABOUT THE AUTHORJames is a minister with our Bossley Park Morning Service.