some things i'm learning about SIN.

Friends… I have to start off by saying the post before this, about shenanigans. Well folks, I WON. It was a crazy week and a half and I couldn’t have done it with out help.

Anyway that’s not what that is about. I want to share with you something the Lord is teaching me a lot about… and that is sin. Sarah, Caitlin and I have been meeting together in preparation for our time in Honduras this summer. During our meeting time we have been going over sin, its root, nature, strategy and goal.

Over the last few weeks things have happened that have really tested what I’ve learned. One big thing I’ve learned is why God allows Christians to struggle with sin… God could have wiped out sin all together, without exerting any effort at all. But.. he didn’t. Our full and total deliverance from sin’s presence will come when we receive our glorified bodies. Oh what a glorious day! To understand the purpose we have to remember that God IS sovereign and he does what whatever he pleases, he works all things according to his will and we do not know the full extent of his sovereign will –Psalm 115:3, Ephesians 1:11, Deuteronomy 29:29. The author points out… “But we know this: in His wisdom, God has chosen not to remove the presence of sin from his redeemed… A believer’s struggle with indwelling sin somehow fits into God’s overarching purpose to glorify himself and conform believers to the image of his Son. Paul says: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the first born among many broethren.”-Romans 8:28,29. From this explanation we see some reasons why God allows his children to struggle with sin…1. To make us humble and dependent on God… Our struggle with sin reveals our weakness and only magnifies God’s strength. By his grace he allows us to see ourselves for what we really are: weak, prone to sin, utterly dependent on him who proves to be faithful ALWAYS. 2. To cultivate thankfulness… God is our deliverer. He has triumphed over death and sin. 3. To promote compassion… we as sinners saved by grace alone through faith alone can relate to the lost. That should promote compassion in us for others. 4. To keep your focus on the gospel… the author writes so much better than I when he says…”What causes us to survey the cross each day and marvel at the power of God’s grace? Is it not the sin that clings so closely, the sin we find ourselves confessing and forsaking each day? God wants to keep the cross fresh in our minds. He wants the gospel to occupy our thoughts. Think about it. We can hardly make it through a worship service without a wicked thought assaulting our minds. Even in the name of fellowship we often commit some of the most ghastly sins with our tongue. The presences of sin and our ongoing struggle keep us focused on the beauty of the gospel.” 5. To make us long for heaven… this world is not our home, our citizenship is in heaven.

The second thing that I am learning is huge for me. We are called to make war on our sin, to hunt it down and kill all remaining sin. Look what Paul says in Romans 8:12-14… “So then, brethren, we are under obligation. Not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh- for if you are living according to the flesh, you mush die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” There is no bargaining with sin. There can be no negotiation. It has to be full out war. Well… to make war on the enemy first you must know the enemy. We must know the nature of sin, the strategy of sin and the goal of sin in order to MAKE WAR! The nature of sin… sin is above all else deceptive. Sin promises good but delivers things that are harmful. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it was conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:14-15. Sin is personal in nature. Man’s fallen nature has the tendency to strongly desire whatever will satisfy it. Sin is deceitful and crafty. Sin is not merely a spontaneous act. It is the result of a process. This slapped me in the face- knowing that my sin is the result of a process. Makes you think about things right? The strategy of sin… the number one strategy of sin is to excite our desires and wants, tempting us with an opportunity to fulfill it. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? It not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. James 4:1-2  The progression?- we want, we need, we demand, and finally we take, whatever the cost. Sin is personal. It finds, targets and attacks us at our most vulnerable points. Puritan pastor John Owen says this about the strategy of sin: Sin is always acting, always conceiving, and always seducing and tempting. Who can say that he has ever had anything to do with God or for God which indwelling sin has not tried to corrupt?... there is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed upon. It will always be so while we live in this world. Sin will not spare for one day.  There is no safety but in a CONSTANT warfare for those who desire deliverance from sin’s perplexing rebellion. The goal of sin… sin wants to master us. Look at Cain in Genesis 4- If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not to well, sin is couching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. God warned Cain that if he chose not to obey, if he chose to give into his desires, if he chose sin then ever-present sin would fulfill its power over him. Sin accomplished its goal to deceive, dominate and destroy Cain. The author describes sin this way… Sin is entrenched deep within the heart, undetected but not inactive. Ouch. Sin is rooted deep in my heart and it longs for my destruction. Sin diminishes the hope of the gospel. When I think of how present, deep-rooted, heinous, and personal my sin is it is hard to focus on the hope of the gospel. My vision is clouded by feelings of despair and unworthiness that encourage me to look to myself to fix things instead of running to my Father.

This has been so good for me. It has been good but I would be lying to you if I said it had not been hard. It is hard to stare my sinfulness in the face to deal with it, to confess it and make war against it. Recognizing my sin and learning its nature, strategy and goal have driven me to long for closer communion with my Father… The One who has triumphed over sin. The One who has destroyed it. It has driven me to long to be a woman of prayer. 

So... my prayer at the moment is Psalm 39... "For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me. I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin."