Finding Excuses to Willfully Sin

 

Too often, we all say when referring to sin, "I'm struggling...!"  For me, I find this to be more of an excuse (that I myself have used plenty of times!) to repeatedly return to our sins of choice, rather than a valid fact that we just can't get away from.

In reality, if someone wanted to lose weight because they realized the negative and harmful repercussions of having junk food and the negative toll it was taking on their body, they would take all the necessary steps toward losing weight in a healthy and beneficial way.  This might include taking walks or going running several times a week, walking on a treadmill or using other exercise equipment, drinking plenty of water, taking good quality vitamins, getting enough rest, cooking homemade meals with real food, not that which is processed or can be cooked in a microwave, working out with weights, making fresh fruit and vegetable juice or fruit smoothies daily, etc.

They are aware that keeping unhealthy food in the home where it is easily accessible would be too much of a "temptation" because it would be so much easier to compromise their standards for weight loss/good health and make excuses for giving in.

...Yet we all make excuses for the times we give in to sin and too often keep our sins near enough to where they are easily accessible instead of setting up boundaries and forms of protection that will better ensure we do not give in.  I have heard it said that nobody is temptation-proof.  With that in mind, why do we suppose our temptations will just go away without us seeking to fight our sinful habits and addictions to the death?

A Pastor named David Hegg once said, "If you never start down the path, you'll never end up where the path leads."

This principle can also apply to the paths of sin we are already comfortably acquainted with.  But in reverse.  If we have already started down the path, we must turn around and walk the other way.  We must not pay attention to the temptations on the side of the road or stop at the stores or speak with the people trying to flag us down as we walk the journey back to purity because it will only hinder our progress and growth or lead us astray.

It isn't a matter of walking in repentance when we finally feel like repenting.  God's word is clear with calling those who know God through His salvation to abstain from anything contrary to God's holiness and what will make us more like Him.

Thomas Watson said, "There is a great deal of difference between falling into a temptation and running into a temptation. The falling into a temptation shall work for good (Romans 8: 28), not the running into it. He who falls into a river is fit for help and pity, but he who desperately runs into it is guilty of his own death."

"Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."  Galatians 5: 24

Romans 6