Consuming Sin

This is something I really wanted to expand on when I was writing about mistakes, but such a specific topic didn’t fit with that well. This entry is really about one cause of mistakes. That cause is sin, which is a mistake in itself.

Sin is here to keep us separate from God. It can blind us to his purpose, or even make us feel unworthy to follow Him even if we want to. Sin can keep us from Him. It can be willful, and we can feel like we have little control over it; that we simply can’t help ourselves. This is often said by those who claim to be addicted to alcohol, porn, drugs, sex, accumulating wealth, and so many other things.

It can consume us, and become us. Instead of focusing on God we can focus on when we’ll next get laid. Instead of focusing on God we can focus on where we’ll get our next hit. Instead of focusing on God we can worry about how the changes in the stock market will impact our portfolio. It can hold us in prison chains, and we can be stupid enough to think we like the chains.

Many of us admit we don’t like the prison chains, but we tire of trying to break out. We’ve accepted Christ, but we can’t help going to those sights when we turn on the computer. We’ve accepted Christ, but we need that drink to help us fall asleep at night. We’ve accepted Christ, but that desire for someone of the same sex just won’t let us go. We believe we simply can’t help it.

How much easier would it be to just stop fighting? Fighting is painful. Feeling bad about what we do sucks. What’s wrong with just convincing ourselves it’s just part of us? It’s just who we are. It’s natural.

That’s actually true. It is natural because we have a sin nature. Giving into sin is perfectly natural. All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. One must, however, be fearful of such thinking. Satan is not against using the words of the Bible against us. He did the same thing with Jesus in the desert. When sin tries to get you to give up the fight, and abandon all hope remember the words of Ephesians 5:11:

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”

It can be hard to fight sin, but it is a fight that must be fought. Sin must be defeated, for the wages of sin is death. Sometimes it may seem impossible to defeat sin, but it is not. It can never get a grasp on you that God cannot break. You can always defeat sin. This is shown in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear.”

God will never allow us to be tempted by anything we cannot defeat. We can put down that drink. We can go away from that website. We can refuse to have premarital sex. We can refuse it all. We are powerless to defeat such things on our own, but we do not fight alone. God fights with us, and He’s never lost a match. Sin can never overcome Him. The best way to defeat sin is to turn it over to Him. God knows exactly what needs to be done in order to defeat the sin that bothers you. His son already died so that we could live free of our sins. He did not let Jesus make that sacrifice for no reason. He made it so we could be freed of our sin.

Don’t give up when it seems hard. Others may judge you, but they are the ones who sin. Judging is for the Father. I am not Him, and I cannot judge. I condemn no one, and cannot. I have sinned greatly, and have no right to cast a single stone at another who struggles. I instead want all to know that no matter what sin attacks you, and no matter how powerful it may seem it has no power compared to the awesome power of the Lord. It can be defeated even if you’ve chosen to believe it doesn’t need to be. It needs to be. It wants to destroy you, and it will kill you. Sin can and must be driven out. Sin must always be fought, and never be accepted. All sin big and small is why Jesus needed to be murdered on that cross. All of it is evil. All of it can be overcome through the grace of God.