Why Sin Seems To Win!

          Let me be transparent with you for a moment, I SIN! Is there anybody out there that's willing to be honest and admit that sometimes you struggle with sin? Maybe there's someone who's willing to be honest enough with themselves and admit that even now you're struggling with repetitive sin and have no clue how to get out of that vicious cycle of temptation, temporary excitement, sin, and then guilt.  Let me help you out and break the ice, I've struggled as a Christian with repetitive sin and acted like it never happened, hid it from my friends and family, and even justified it before God! I am ashamed of it, even in the midst of it, I HATED it! Honestly, I hated myself, I even wondered if I was even saved! But there's still hope friend, you CAN overcome, you CAN break the chains of repetitive sin and live freely in the Grace of God while fulfilling the purpose He's placed upon your life. Let's look at this truth and the questions that follow..........

The reality of this vile flesh and being clothed in it is this, until this corruptible puts on incorruption we WILL fail, miss the mark, fall short, do wrong, not do right, simply put, we're not perfect yet!

            With that truth we have to ask a few questions and we'll start with this one, what does this mean? In Romans 7 Paul gets really personal, which is rare, and reveals his vicious inward battle, the battle between the flesh and the spirit! He attests to the glory of the Law and how its good and how his inward man desires to do right but it just doesn't seem to happen like he wants it to. He says that the things he doesn't want to do, he does and the the things he does want to do, he doesn't! I'm not sure about you but I completely understand his dilemma, his pain, I've wrestled with my very own soul, my Jacob has argued with my Israel!

            Now the next question, if it's nearly a certainty that if I continue to live that I'll continue to sin then if I sin is it ok? NO! God Forbid! Absolutely NOT! Sometimes we justify our sin by the fact that everybody sins! Paul had to deal with this argument many times. Once he answers this question without being asked because he knew the minds of the people and that they would ask him if they could. He said that where sin did abound, Grace did much more abound and the conclusion some drew from this was that if Grace shines brightest in it's covering of sin then we should sin all the more. Paul exclaims, God Forbid! Now we may never ask this question but sometimes I think we live it out. We live the old phrase "it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission."  It's NEVER ok to sin, period! No matter the circumstance, the reason, the environment, sin is a manifestation of the rejection of God's perfection and that SIN has entangled, marred, scarred, and tried to destroy God's creation since the fall, sin is high treason against the most high God!

            Lastly, if It's absolutely not ok to sin yet I am prone to sin what can I do? I want to answer this in a reflective response focussing on the motivation to sin versus the motivation to not sin. I'm sure you're saying to yourself "I'm a Christian, I don't have any motivation to sin, it just happens." You and I both know that's not true. Do you remember the elementary science phrase "for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction?" Most people equate sin with action and rightly so, I mean the Bible says things like "thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, ........" Jesus never viewed it that way, to him the action was the manifestation of the sin in the heart, the INTENT! He said things like this "if you are angry with your brother you're as guilty as a murderer" and "if you lust toward another woman you have committed adultery in your heart." See, for there to be an action there has to be a catalyst! What pushes us to sin? The desires of our heart! Our selfish nature wants, wants, wants, craves, craves, craves, desires, desires, desires! We are addicted to pleasure, self gratification, our churches these days even focus the worship around the emotions and desires of the people instead of focussing upon Christ and his glory! I see phrases all the time like this, "come to church and get your blessing." The answer to the believer's struggle with sin is this, until our motivation to NOT sin is greater than our motivation TO sin then we will forever be in bondage to sin! John Piper was preaching on porn and made this assessment, if someone came into the room with your best friend and said that if you look at that your friend will die, we would all have self control and not commit that sin! The motivation to not sin would outweigh the motivation to sin. Most believer's that struggle with repetitive sin try to keep it hidden believing that it isn't hurting anyone but themselves. The reality is that everyone around you suffers in your darkness, you're never alone in that dark room with sin, everyone you love is there with you! This strikes emotion in our heart right? I mean I personally have wept bitterly because my personal sin had caused my wife great grief! Seeing her hurt and cry broke me to pieces and I was truly remorseful, I hurt, I cried and I wanted to never see her hurt like that on my account again. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, why don't I feel that same remorse, shame, hurt, and pain before a Holy God? I knew the answer, I wasn't as close to him as I thought! If I was then when I hurt him by sinning it would break me! Typically we lie to ourselves and say "if they never find out, it isn't hurting them" but God never "finds out" he watches you commit that sin and made every way out so that you didn't have to! That gravity should rein in every motivation to sin! Sin will ALWAYS cost something! We would have self control to not sin if it cost our friend their temporal life yet every sin has an eternal cost! Every sin we commit was beat upon the Christ as he hung on the cross, the weight of our transgressions bruised him! Are we so personal and close to our savior that it bothers us to hurt him? If we pictured the cross at every rising of temptation we would always win if our relationship with Christ is what we say it is! The more time we spend with God, the more we see  him for who he is, the more motivation we would have to not sin. If we're more impacted by those around us we hurt with sin than knowing the pain we would cause the very one who paid the ultimate price for our sin then our relationship we have with God is in question and the end of that question is do we even have a relationship with him?! When is the last time you wept bitterly with a broken and contrite spirit before God because of the sins you have committed? Therein lies the problem, our motivation TO sin (self) is greater than our motivation to NOT sin (the Christ)! We would never say that but does our life not prove it when we're caught up in sin? It doesn't have to be this way!

            Today is the day you shift the balance, weigh out the motivations and see GRACE! You don't have to live like this, you can break the cycle, there is hope in Jesus Christ! Find an accountability partner that you can trust and embark on a journey of sanctification like you've never imagined!