Do you argue with yourself? Do you debate whether to do this or do that? Are there times when you do something you know you shouldn’t? Are there one or two things you continually battle? Do you know you are wrestling with sin?
We know when we are doing something we shouldn’t. We may even tell ourselves we should not do it again. Yet, we continue to fall prey to it. It may be something that makes us feel good for a short time but has negative effects later.
Wrestling with sin can be a very difficult struggle. In one respect, we know that God’s grace can cover it. In another, we know we should not continue in that sin. We tell ourselves to stop. We may even resist it for a while. Then it rears its ugly head in a weak moment, and we submit to it again.
When the Apostle Paul tells us not to continue in our sin, he knows it is a struggle. He also knows we cannot overcome it on our own. He points us to submitting to Jesus and asking Him to remove it from us. Paul knows we cannot conquer an especially challenging sin on our own.
As we pray to God to forgive us of our sin, we must also pray that he eliminates our urge to sin. If it has a strong hold on us, we may need to pray many times for God to remove it. It may take us weeks, months, or even years to remove it. It is not that God cannot remove it immediately, it is our unwillingness to let it go. Therefore, we must pray that God fill us with his Spirit and help us let go of it.
I pray we all recognize our sin. I pray we continue to pursue eliminating sin from our lives. I pray each one of us will ask God to help us remove our urge to sin by submitting to him. Conquer your sin. Ask God for forgiveness. Ask God to fill you with his Spirit. Ask God to eliminate your desire to sin.
Romans 6:1-2 What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?
Marty Pressey 