Being a real Christian is beautiful because not only are our sins forgiven through God's Son, Jesus Christ, and the salvation He accomplished on our behalf by dying on the cross for our sins and rising triumphantly from the dead, though as we take our walk with Him seriously and have a daily commitment to the Lord, one of growing in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23), learning to trust God and cherish Him more, and God bringing us through lessons, trials, hardships, and difficulties to build our character, strengthen our faith in Him, and purge, refine, and sanctify us over time, God makes us a new creation! It is a process of daily steps. To me, this is incredible to ponder! "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (Second Corinthians 5: 17).
The world may offer self help books on how we can improve our lives in particular aspects, yet it is possible through God alone that we have a new heart, new desires, new goals, and the willingness to please God and walk in a manner worthy of Him; forsaking our old ways of living and being content and joyful that our lives are in God's hands. With Him, life is clean and we don't even have to fear death when we know we are in right standing before God! First John 5: 13, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."
Our hearts are changed as we follow after Him and He purges and refines us from that which vows to take His place in our hearts. In reality, sin keeps us in bondage and therefore we are in need of God's enabling grace and Spirit to sanctify and transform us. As Christians, we will still sin, though the truth of First John 2: 1-2 which says, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; ..." is a comfort because even when we sin, we can ask God for forgiveness. This isn't to say that we can place ourselves in tempting situations or give in half way to what we know will cause us to stumble and then quickly pray, "Lord, I am too tempted! Make a way out." We must be wise and seek to walk in repentance, not allowing compromise. It is like walking closer and closer to the edge of a cliff and then right near the edge you pray, "God, I don't want to fall. Please make the way out and undue the mess I have made!" Wouldn't this be silly? If we take steps toward sinning, the result will obviously be sin (or even falling off a cliff, so to speak!)
First Corinthians 6: 9-11 goes on to say, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."
Keep in mind that these Scriptures are showing sins people actually deal with, and how through the Gospel, we can be delivered!
As a side note about the topic of homosexuality, I have heard it said by even Christian ministry leaders who run a ministry specifically for homosexuals, how even if they repent and walk in abstinence from this sin, that the attraction will never go away. I strongly disagree with this. After all, one would rightly assume that filling our minds with what is impure, ungodly, unwholesome, and sinful would obviously bring the result of a corrupted mind that lacks purity, so stopping our intake of sinful entertainment, conversation, and time spent with others who may be a bad influence would have a significant way of enabling us to maintain our purity! It makes sense to me that feeding our sinful flesh will enable growth in unholy passions and desires, while starving our sin will enable it to die! Very true. As I have said before, how may we expect to live a holy life if we fill our minds with and engage in conversation/time spent with others that is impure and ungodly?
Sin will overtake us if we allow it to and like a Pastor named Timothy Keller once said in a sermon entitled, "Sin as Predator": "Sin isn't done with you when you are done with it". Sin is serious and will bring us into bondage and keep us in bondage if we continue filling our minds with that which is unclean and ungodly. Romans chapter six verses one and two says, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" (Read the book of Romans and all of chapter six for the context of what these verses are saying).
We can choose to gratify our sinful flesh by delighting in, dwelling on, fantasizing about, engaging in, filling our minds with, and lusting after our sins of choice, or we can commit our struggles and strongholds to the Lord and ask for deliverance, freedom, forgiveness, and restoration from what has kept us in bondage or that which we cannot overcome or deal with on our own.
Reading God's word daily and really saturating our minds with His word is crucial to our spiritual growth and vitality. I have heard it said referring to the Bible, "This book will keep you from sin and sin will keep you from this book".
And as Charles Spurgeon said, "...It is war to the knife with my sins, not one will I keep."
Why? Because sin separates us from God, keeps us in bondage, steals away the freedom and joy we have in the Lord as we walk in faithful obedience, and has a negative impact, effect, and result even in the lives of those around us! Do keep in mind that sin will not only affect us, it will show in certain ways and prove to steal innocence of even people we are close to! Sin really is selfish! Think about how the sins of many people in history have not only affected them and ruined their lives, yet also the lives of others. The school shooting at Columbine High School years ago is a great example of this.
Let us commit our struggles and strongholds to God, shall we? Asking our precious Savior to deliver us from that which holds us captive and to grant us the ability to walk in His ways and to maintain an attitude of repentance...not playing around with sin or allowing compromise, yet instead, living in conscious obedience to the truth of God's word and seeking to apply His word to all aspects of our lives, even our entertainment choices, who we spend time with, and the places we hang out!
"How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin." Psalm 32: 1-5
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