God desires that we have an attitude of faith and trust in Him. His desire is that whenever He speaks, we take His Word as it is, trust Him and obey Him. Unfortunately, there are many hindrances to a life of genuine faith in God and one of them is SIN.
SIN is a well mentioned concept in scriptures that is important to understand. It can simply be defined as lawlessness – living contrary to God’s law.
1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. (WEB)
Sin is also described in scriptures as a spiritual personality that has a mind of its own:
Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”(NIV)
Romans 6:14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. (NLT)
As Christians, we are tempted to sin daily because we live in a fallen world. God expects that we watch, pray and rely on His grace to say no to sin every day. Sometimes, we may do things which go against God’s laws. In situations like these, God expects us to come back to Him in repentance and renew our walk with Him.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (NIV)
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (NIV)
Unfortunately, some of us as believers are careless about depending on God’s grace to avoid sin. Further still, some continue in sin without repentance and turning back to God because they enjoy the pleasure of sin.
We are warned severally against living this way in the New Testament because it can lead to hardness of heart against God, separation from genuine fellowship with other believers and can lead to falling away from the faith.
Hebrews 3:12-15 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” (NIV)
So what next?: Take a deep look into your life right now: Are there ways you are being careless with your faith?; are you abstaining from all evil?; do you have any unrepented or unconfessed sin in your life?. Take urgent action and reach out to a more mature believer who can help you.
PRAYER: Thank you Lord for exposing what sin is to me. I repent of all my sin and choose to live a life of faith from today on. Teach me how to draw close to you and say no to sin in Jesus name. Amen.