Deal With Your Sin

An important part of our Christian walk and being sanctified is dealing with our sin as God deals with us.  He treats believers as His own adopted children, having freely provided us access into His presence and an eternal inheritance in heaven.  A father disciplines and corrects the son he loves, and we ought not to despise God's chastening.  Recognising our sin and wicked tendencies is a necessary start, but for us it ought not to end there.

It is a wise man who notices common pitfalls of sin and does everything possible to prevent opportunity and invitation to transgress.  A person who knows they cannot be trusted to have one alcoholic beverage because once the door is opened they will drink themselves drunk is wise not to drink at all.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, the cliche goes.  The simple act of not being alone with a boyfriend or girlfriend has prevented temptation to fornication.  I have witnessed many people in competitive gaming "rage quit" because of frustration with losing despite their best efforts.  They shout, "That's it, I'm deleting this game!"  But was the game itself the problem?

So you delete the game from your computer, you avoid "chilling" with your girlfriend alone, you avoid drinking alcohol:  have you dealt with the sin in the heart that leads to outbursts of wrath, lustful thoughts, sexual immorality and drunkenness?  This is the necessary action our sinful behaviour ought to prompt us to undertake by confession, repentance and determination to obey God in the future.  Circumspect boundaries can sink into the mire of legalism unless our hearts are transformed by putting off the old man and walking in the Holy Spirit.  We can imagine we are more righteous by avoiding temptation rather than taking our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ and put sin to death in our bodies (Colossians 3:5-11).

Paul exposed this error of believers in Colossians 2:20-23:  "Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations--²¹ "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," ²² which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."  By all means avoid sin and refuse to place a stumbling block in the way of others, but our own sinfulness must be confessed and forsaken.  Not one of us can purify our hearts, minds and hearts by "temptation avoidance:"  it is by the power of Jesus Christ revealed in the Gospel by grace through faith in Him.

James wrote the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1:20), and when God allows circumstances to stir up sin and brings it to the surface through our behaviour we must deal with the source of sin in our hearts.  A man once told me of his ex-wife, "I never stopped loving her, but she made me more angry than anyone else."  Divorcing a spouse does nothing to divorce anyone from their sinful pride, anger and hardness of heart.  Praise God the LORD who opens our eyes to our sin by conviction of the Holy Spirit and God's word is able to purify us of all guilt.  By the Gospel we are made righteous in God's sight, and in Christ we joyfully abide.