The Temptation to Keep Sinning
One of the greatest battles I have ever fought was internal. I didn’t realize at the time it was a battle and I also didn’t realize that it wasn’t just me fighting. In hindsight I can recognize that the Holy Spirit was trying to make a home in me and I was busy filling that home with my things. My things made me selfish and left me wondering why my home felt so empty. But thankfully in the midst of my self-pity Jesus came along and taught me that life wasn’t about making myself happy.
What?
Learning who Jesus was - recognizing His all-encompassing grace and endless love – was a slow process; Allowing those truths to dictate my life on a daily basis -that’s an ongoing process. My things – the things I used to thrive on, my idols, will always vie for my attention. Of course they will. They are the most powerful weapon The Enemy has against me because they most effectively distract me from Jesus. It is enticing to believe that Jesus’ grace provides room for both.
But Jesus’ grace covers all my sin past, present, forever.
Yes, because of Jesus I am free from the consequences of all my mistakes. I am no longer a slave to my sinful nature. I have a safe eternal home. But I have been crucified WITH Christ. The selfish sinful nature I once knew died alongside Him. I can no longer feed that sinful nature because it is no longer who I am. I would be denying my own identity. With my new identity in Jesus I can resist the temptation to keep sinning, or more accurately, I can resist my sinful nature. His Holy Spirit has comfortably found a home inside my soul. I am made more like Him every day.
"Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into His death?"