Tag: struggle

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1 John

Our struggle with sin

Child of light

It would be easy, having seen the last two blogs I have posted, to get the impression that I’m saying a true Christian should be perfect. That there should be no sin in our lives at all.

And John does seem to have this tendency to put these things in black and white. But one thing that is also crystal clear from his writing is that though we are children of light, and that true children of light walk in that light, we still sin. We still fail.

In fact, John tells us,

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

And again,

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (10)

How does this all fit into what we have said before?

Several things, some of which we have already touched on.

  1. A true child of God does not make excuses for their sin. They do not try to explain away scripture to justify their sin. They do not try to say their case is an “exception” to the rule.
  2. A true child of God does not blatantly ignore scripture. When they read it, they do their best to follow it.
  3. A true child of God struggles with their sin. They don’t simply say, “This is the way I am. I’m never going to change.” Rather they mourn over their sin. And they long to be different.

This is not to say that true Christians never do any of the above. Sometimes they do make excuses. Sometimes they do blatantly ignore scripture. Sometimes they do say, “This is the way I am. I’m never going to change.”

And sometimes, Christians simply have blind spots. They simply can’t see their sin for what it is. They haven’t reached the point of maturity where they can discern all that’s good and evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14)

But a true Christian will not simply continue living this way. The Holy Spirit will not allow it. And if the Christian will not listen, he will bring discipline into their lives.

The good news, however, is that when we repent, God will forgive. John tells us,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (9)

Are you a child of God? A child of the Light? Then stop making excuses for your sin. Stop ignoring God’s Word. When God chastises you, repent. And God is gracious. He will forgive you.

We will never be perfect while in this world, but that should always be our goal. If we truly love Jesus, we should long to be like him.

Do you?

Categories
Romans

Hope

Romans

As I mentioned before in my last blog, I do believe there is room for hope in our fight against sin.

The main problem Christians fight in their struggle against sin is despair.

And the question that most people ask is, “Am I really a Christian? How can a Christian possibly do the things that I do? I want to do what’s right, and I keep failing time and again.”

But here is something important that Paul brings up.

For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good…

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does. (Romans 7:15-16, 19-20)

What is the key thing to notice here? One word: struggle.

The non-Christian, at least one not yet touched by the grace of God, does not struggle against sin. They don’t even notice there is a problem. A Christian does.

Now if a Christian were making a practice of sin despite knowing what God has said (and this is a key point because young Christians don’t always know), and telling me, “What do you mean I’m doing something wrong? I’m not doing anything wrong,” that would be a warning sign to me that something is wrong.

Either they are not really a Christian, or they have so hardened their hearts to God that they can’t hear him anymore.

But a Christian that is struggling is a Christian that I have confidence God is working in. And if God is working in you, he will complete his work.

Paul put it this way,

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:4,6)

Rest assured, if God is bringing into your life conviction of sin, he will not leave you there in the pigsty. He will bring you victory. That’s the hope that we have.

That’s why one minute Paul could cry out,

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24)

And the next minute cry out even more loudly,

Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25)

We cannot make ourselves better. We cannot change ourselves. But God can. That’s the hope that we have.

How does he do it? How do we change?

Through the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.

But that’s another blog. Stay tuned.

Categories
Romans

Why we struggle with sin

Romans

Having given my prologue, let’s look at the text. Like I said, I can see why some people say Paul is speaking as a Christian and others say that he isn’t. Let’s start with the latter.

If you look at verse 14, it says,

I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. (Romans 7:14)

And again, in verse 25, he says,

In the sinful nature [I’m] a slave to the law of sin.

The question is very obvious. Weren’t we redeemed from sin? Weren’t we set free? How then, can Paul as a Christian say that he is sold as a slave to sin.

Again, in verse 18,

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

Yet isn’t the point of living by the Spirit that we can carry out our desire to do good?

All good points and must be answered.

However, I think other verses are even more problematic if you hold that Paul is speaking as a non-Christian.

The most problematic verse is in verse 17 where he says,

As it is, it is no longer I myself who [sins], but it is sin living in me. (Romans 7:17)

And again in verse 20 where he repeats himself saying,

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who [sin], but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:20)

How can the non-Christian possibly claim that “It is no longer I myself who is sinning?” when he is still in rebellion against God, which is the ultimate sin?

There can be no separation between yourself and your sinful nature when you’re a non-Christian. You are your sinful nature. You are so intertwined, that you can’t tell where one ends and the other starts.

Further, because you are married to your sinful nature, the only fruit you can possibly bear is sin leading to death. How then can you, as a non-Christian, say “It’s not really me?”

The Christian, on the other hand, can say all these things. And I believe it is what Paul is saying as a Christian.

To review, our sinful nature is dead in that the part of us that was rebellious to God has been crucified. Our old husband is dead. He no longer can actively influence us.

But though that part of us is dead, we are still bonded to a heart, body, and mind that has been influenced by sin from the time we were born.

The scars left by it, namely all the behavioral patterns of sin, and all the emotional ties to it, all still remain and they affect the way we live.

The old man is dead, but his influence in our hearts, bodies, and minds is still very much alive. And as long as we are tied to our physical bodies and those scars remain, we are in that sense still slaves to sin.

Now these other passages make sense. It’s not me anymore that desires sin. That part of me that was in rebellion to God died. Now I want to do what is right. I want to please God.

But there are still those residual scars of sin in me. There are still those behavioral patterns and emotional ties to sin within me. The old man is dead, but even dead, he influences me.

And right here, right now, influenced by the old man as I am, I find it impossible to carry out the good that I wish to. I want to forgive, but I can’t. I want to be patient with my kids, but I can’t.

So what am I saying? That there is no hope for the here and now? That there’s only despair for me in my fight against sin as long as I live?

Not at all, and we’ll see that in tomorrow’s blog.

Categories
Job

When friends mourn

Job

In the book of Job, we see three of his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. When they heard about Job’s troubles, they decided together to go and visit him. And when they saw the state he was in, it says,

They began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights.

No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. (Job 2:12–13)

Although there are a lot of negative things we can say about his friends throughout the book of Job, one thing we can say is that they truly cared about him.

And in the first few days they were with him, they did the best thing they could. They shut up and just stayed with him.

When they got in trouble was when they started opening their mouths and started spouting off their “wisdom” to him.

I think there’s something to be said about that. When our friends are mourning because of the troubles they are going through, most times, they don’t need our words of advice. They don’t need our “wisdom.” More than anything else, they just need us to be there and to listen.

Sometimes they will say stupid things in their pain and anguish. Sometimes they may even question God and his wisdom.

But for the most part, they don’t need us to condemn them or criticize them for voicing their pain. They just need us to be there to understand them and to sympathize with them.

And if we’ll just do that, showing God’s love to them by just being there and understanding them, they’ll usually come around and recognize God’s presence and love through us.

Paul puts it this way,

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Romans 12:15)

So when people around us are struggling through loss and pain, let us use our mouths much less, and use our ears and arms of comfort much more.