Introduction:
One of the most disheartening experiences a Christian can go through is to fall back into their old sins and feel the guilt of it all over again. We’ve all experienced it. Those of us who have come to understand and accept the grace and forgiveness of God truly can attest that we have failed many times. Why is it so difficult to walk with Christ? Mainly because following Jesus means walking the straight line. No one ever walked the straight line other than Jesus, but if we are to follow Him, we must walk with Him where He goes. It is the path of righteousness. It is the perfect life. Unfortunately, we have already failed to walk the straight path. We get distracted by every little thing placed in front of us. Like a frightened animal, we tend to look away and turn at every noise and movement. Things that bring us satisfaction and pleasure are what we seek every day. It is ingrained in us to preserve and care for our bodies. But our desire is not to persevere but satisfy an itch: The temptation to eat more than you should, the temptation to look longer than you should, the temptation to react in what comes naturally to you. These temptations subtly whisper things in our ears that lead us to compromise our obedience to God. The moment sin comes to fruition, our guilt kicks in and beats us down till we are on the ground. It’s hard to get up at that point. Sin and guilt will not let up. They continue to test our patience, confuse our theology, and cause us to lose our faith.
So the question is, why do we as Christians still struggle with sin? If Jesus’ promises are true, then we should be free from the powers of sin, and yet we still find ourselves struggling with sin. For some of us, the sin seems to increase after coming to Christ. Have you noticed that in your life? Is your sin amplified and more frequent? Do you find yourself doing things you swore you would never do? Do you feel like giving up, and all this Christian stuff seems unreal and illegitimate? Before you brush off your faith in Christ, allow me to take you through some difficulties in understanding a sinner’s life, and hopefully provide you with an answer that will relieve you of your struggles over sin. I am not promising you will overcome your sins, nor am I promising anything will change. I am promising that you will have a clearer understanding of the necessity for sin (yes, you read that correctly) and how God uses our sins to shape and form us into Christlikeness.
In this article, I will explain why we struggle with sin as Christians and its effects on believers. We will walk through what sin wants to do to you as a redeemed believer. The consequences of sin were atoned for on the cross. But we continue to sin and struggle to repent. Sin desires to distract you from doing God’s will by restraining you from serving the Lord, causing you to lose faith, and twisting your theology into unbiblical views of God. I will also provide some solutions that may help in times of crisis so that you can continue walking by faith and not by sight. Turning to the cross, living a humble life, and having a clear grasp of theology will get you back on your feet and restore your motivation. Your growth in Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit will transform your worldview to see things as God sees them. With humble hearts, let’s begin.
Your Sin Wants To Hold You Back
Everyone is a sinner. We were born in sin and were destined to die in sin (Rom 5:12). Belief in Jesus is the only way of salvation from sin. But what most don’t consider is what sin can do to you as a believer. When we were living as pagans, sin was not an issue, because sin was what we desired to do. It was natural and desirable for a sinner to experience temptation, commit sin, and suppress guilt. The world does not understand why Christians behave the way they do. Seeing someone desire something other than what comes naturally to them confuses them. What is common and natural for a pagan is unnatural and uncommon for a believer. Once Christians come to faith in Christ, they feel they have overcome the world. They feel different, yet the same. It is a new life added to the old life. Your old life continues to live, because you are not dead. The new life in Christ is being born again in the Spirit of God. This means your soul, which was dead in sin, has been resurrected in Christ, and now you have a new life walking with Christ.
The new life is peppered with old life practices. Although you may feel like a new person, the old life haunts you. It is because sin dwells within us. Jesus saved us and forgave us of our sins (past, present, and future). That means, sins you have not committed yet have been forgiven on the cross. You are no longer accountable for those sins, but Jesus already paid the penalty on the cross. You are committing crimes that have already been paid for. This does not mean we have an open license to continue in sin, but it means that even the sins you plan to commit intentionally or unintentionally are already forgiven. We will cover this more later as we go through the issues, but I want to focus on the believer’s attitude when they sin. Is the believing sinner taking advantage of God’s grace by continuing to sin, or is the person struggling to stop their sin, yet doesn’t have the strength to stop?
The first goal of sin is to hold you back and oppress you with guilt. Guilt from sin in a believer is like a muzzle on a dog. Guilt will prevent you from witnessing and sharing the Gospel with your neighbors. The guilt will overwhelm you and make you feel unworthy and a hypocrite. Although you know the truth, you hold back, afraid of being found out. Adam, in the Garden of Eden, ran and hid from God because of his guilt. When sin confronts grace, you will either fall away in shame or turn to God for forgiveness. What causes us to run instead of turning to the Lord? Misinterpretation and assumptions of how God would react. Our knowledge of God becomes twisted, and we reshape God’s character as if it were like ours. One of the biggest mistake I see people make is to bring God down to our level. Projecting our feelings and responses on God roots from sin. We are not to compare God to us. God is not a creature that can be compared. He is above and beyond our understanding (Isa 55:8-9).
Thinking about our sin prevents us from witnessing and sharing the Gospel. We feel too guilty to tell others when we are struggling. How can we let someone know there is freedom in Christ when we cannot overcome our sins? This type of questioning is not from the Holy Spirit, but from the voice of the evil one. The devil wants you to grovel in your sins and never share your faith. The devil desires to have you cornered and immobile, unable to tell anyone about Jesus Christ. To the pagan, the devil is not concerned, because he already has them. To the believer, the devil wants to suppress them to prevent them from spreading the Word. The devil tempts the unbeliever to keep them in their sinful life till their death. The devil tempts believers in hopes of restraining them from doing what God commanded them to do, which is loving their neighbors by giving the love of Christ. Your guilt over your sin causes you to sin even more by committing the sin of omission (not doing what you ought to do). It is sin layered upon sin; Guilt layered upon guilt. The heavier the layers, the more suppressed you feel, and the more you feel suppressed, the more you will be complacent.
Your Sin Wants You To Lose Faith
The devil uses sin to distract you from spreading the Word. The devil also means to cause a loss of faith and trust in God, by bringing you down into depression and twisting your view of God. Regardless of how long you have walked with Christ, your faith can be weak or strong depending on the state and conditions at the moment. If God allowed you to be tempted over something, then it was not to cause you to fall, but rather to grow your faith through the tests (Jam 1:2-3; 1 Pet 1:6-7). Your faith can still be the size of a mustard seed, even after many years of following Christ. Your years lived do not make you more knowledgeable about God. Knowing God comes from His Word, which is practiced. Just head knowledge cannot provide enough information for you to grow. That knowledge must be placed into active use for your faith to grow.
For example, what good would it do if I yelled, “There is a fire in the building,” and continued to sit down without moving? Everyone will turn to see what I do. If I react and run out of the theater, then others will follow, believing what I said. If I just yell “Fire!” and still sit there not moving, then no one will run out because I am not practicing what I believe. Faith grows by actively living by faith. The book of James hammers this teaching out as he argues for “Faith without works is dead” (Jam 2:17, 18, 26). It is one thing to make claims and talk about what you believe, but it is a whole new dynamic for someone to have faith and actually walk in it. So, how can you know what your faith age is? How old is your faith?
I can remember a time when I walked with Jesus, learning about Him and learning to love Him. In the midst of my fellowship, temptations would attack me out of nowhere. It seems as if temptation knows exactly when to strike. Obviously, I’ve failed and gloriously at it. I’ve failed multiple times, to the point of even questioning my faith. I would ask, “If I truly believe in Jesus, why do I still feel these temptations and fall into sin?” Why do I still struggle and desire to do the things I hate? The apostle Paul honestly wrote about his struggle as well in Romans 7:14-25.
“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” In chapter 7, Paul describes how his desires conflict with each other. One side seeks to do right and follow Christ, but the fleshly side desires him to sin and not do what he ought to do. We don’t have the exact details of what Paul was struggling with, but the primary principles are the same. In this life, we will struggle and have trials and tribulations (John 16:33). The believer must hold on to their faith regardless of their sins. I repeat, you must hold on to your faith and what you know of Jesus Christ. It is in these moments that true faith shines.
Overcoming challenges and difficulties sets you on a pattern of success. As you continue to succeed in those daily habits of righteousness, sin’s power loses its grip and starts to let go. Your temptations will subside as you take up your cross daily and nail that sin onto Christ’s tree. A continual daily practice of good habits (denying sins, doing what is right, etc.) will build your faith and strengthen your spirit. Just as with anything else in life, you must keep at it every day to learn a new skill and develop good habits. You build up your faith muscles as you choose to obey God. A Christian who does not struggle with sin is not growing in faith and has become stagnant. You may not think so, and say the opposite. Why would someone who is not struggling with sin be stagnant and not grow? Isn’t that the goal of all believers, to stop their sins and serve the Lord? The goal is accurate and correct; however, the target is off. Our goal of ending sin comes when we enter into glory in Heaven with our God. As long as we are still alive in the body, our sins continue to tempt and challenge us. Sin has no power over the redeemed person. God uses sin to grow our faith in Him. Growth comes from the obstacles and challenges we face. Without struggle, growth does not happen.
This principle is evident in the world around us. For an oyster to produce a beautiful pearl, it must endure years of rubbing, pressing, and grinding sand crystals that settle inside the oyster shell. Over time, all that struggle and movement produce beautiful jewelry.
Think back to when you faced difficulties and real struggles with something. You grew in some way from that experience. Same with your faith. You must exercise your faith daily, grinding and working it out, only to produce something beautiful and wonderfully made by God. So, how do you exercise faith? By the testing and challenges you go through, given by God, to produce a pearl inside you. How else can you learn to trust God, except by falling away and learning about His unwavering grace?
Do you have faith by head knowledge, or by heart knowledge? You most likely came to Christ because you had a crisis moment in life that drew you to Him. The difficulty you experienced made you place your trust in God. Since then, have you continued to exercise your faith? Do you depend on and desire God daily, or is God an afterthought? Do you pray and trust that what He said He will do, will get done? When challenged with the theological doctrine that counters what you understood God to be like, do you avoid it because it confronts your belief system? Growth in faith happens when taking on those challenges to sharpen knowledge and belief. If you have not struggled in any way over your faith for growth, repent now and ask God to forgive you for not actively practicing your faith. But if you struggle over sin or doctrine that challenges your faith, God bless you. God is wor king in your life to shape you into who He wants you to be. Be encouraged and hold on to God’s promises. It takes faith to believe and trust in God. But if sin has overtaken us, our image of God can get distorted.
Your Sin Wants To Change God
Sin warps our image of God’s character. We think we know and understand God, but then something happens that causes us to question whether we really know God. The blinding consequence of sin is what deforms God’s image. We start to imagine God as our earthly father and how they would react or treat us when we fail. This can be devastating to some who grew up in hostile home environments. They will fail to believe God is angry with them over their sin.
If you’ve ever felt or have been in a situation where you thought God was disappointed with you, your vision of God has been warped. You will wonder if you went too far; if God has limits with you. Have you ever wondered if God is fed up with you? I mean, really had enough of you committing sins? Does God ever reach a point of no return with us? Is there a limit with God?
Everyone who sins tests God’s patience and grace. God, who is just and righteous, cannot let sin go unpunished. For the heathen, God is storing up wrath for the end times. For the children of God, He has already forgiven them of their sins, and uses sin to reshape and reform His children into His Son’s image. How does God do this using sin? Sin and suffering to the children of God is what refine them into purity. The more you sin, the more you will feel like you are pushing your limits with God. That is what guilt does. Guilt causes you to regret and have remorse over your sins. But God, in His graciousness, shows us how much further His grace goes. God’s love for you is boundless, yet sin wants you to believe God is upset and angry with you. Sin wants you to imagine God reacting as you would react in the same circumstance. You must not compare God’s emotional reactions with how you would respond. If you do, then you have made God into an idol, an image of what you imagine he would be like.
Our only source of how God would react is through Scripture. Reading the Bible will tell us how God would react. I am not suggesting using mystic hocus pocus methods to open the Bible randomly and claim whatever passage falls in front of you. Through careful study of Scripture and reading about our Church history, we will see God clearly through the eyes of saints past. It is through the written Word that God chose to preserve knowledge of Himself. We can know God by reading about what He has done in history, and how he interacts with people. Some may say God is harsh and angry, especially in the Old Testament. However, the Old Testament reveals God’s goodness superseding His justice (Ex 32:6). Also, in the New Testament, we can see God’s justice and anger over sin, which many overlook, believing Jesus was only about love and kindness (Matt 21; 23; Mark 3:1-6). The whole Scripture reveals God’s nature and character. We can know Him through the medium He chose to reveal Himself.
Sin makes us believe God is angry with us and is always watching over us as a police officer. Sin will make you forget that God forgave you and still loves you. Sin turns God into a taskmaster with high expectations. All other religions view their gods in similar ways, with expectations of sacrifice and demands. God’s image becomes like all other gods, with no grace involved, but only merit. The Bible clearly states that God forgave us for ALL of our sins (Col 2:13-14). You have been cleansed from the moment you received Jesus. In God’s eyes, you are perfect and clean, without blemish. God sees you as sinless because of the sacrifice Jesus made on your behalf. You are no longer under judgment, but have been welcomed into the family of God. God never rejects a member of His family. Just as a father cannot disown his son, for it is biologically impossible, God will never disown you. Since God loves and forgives you of all your sins, does that mean we can sin? Is God okay with us sinning since he uses it for our good? Just because something was used for our good doesn’t mean it is good or allowed. A farmer whips his steer to pull the plow to tend the ground. The steer will learn and do a better job, but does that mean the steer is fine with the whip slashes or pulling the heavy burden? Just because God uses our failures for our good, doesn’t mean it is ok to continue failing. The purpose of God allowing sin for a time is to grow our faith and change our desires. Sin has an end date. We need to play through this life, failures and all, so that our result is the image of Christ.
Remember the cross
Remember the cross. God already forgave you of your sins…all of them. God has forgiven you. If you truly believe that, your faith will grow. Faith is what’s lacking, and why you are still struggling with sin. God will take you to your limits with sin, only to teach you a lesson. To you, that may sound liberating, God allowing you to sin? Absolutely not. God doesn’t allow us to sin; He releases His firm grip slightly. You may think that makes God sound like an overlord tyrant who is just playing games, but far from it. God is in control. We tend to sin when God releases His grip because that is our natural instinct.
We still live in this sinful body in a fallen world. We must rule over it, as God told Cain (Gen 4:7). The goal is to build your faith by using your fall. The more you fall, the more you learn. You may even push your limits and go far beyond what’s allowed, but God, in His mercy, shows grace to us and restores us no matter how far we fall. The cross is the seal for this promise. God’s love for you will never cease. Many at this point will question the limits. Some may think How far can I go? Why don’t I just continue to sin, since Jesus died for my sins? That is grace abuse, taking advantage of God’s grace to satisfy your pleasures. No one would allow that, and neither does God. But does that mean God has His limits with grace? Absolutely not! You cannot outbid God with your sins. God will always win with His grace. Then what about the grace abuser? God does not allow grace abuse, but that does not mean it does not happen. To those who have intentionally abused God’s grace and sinned, knowing God will forgive you, I say shame on you for your attitude. But that does not mean God will not forgive you. God forgave you on the cross, even for sins of grace abuse. As horrifying as it may sound, there are those out there who slip into this kind of grace abuse. If they have placed true faith in Christ, then they are forgiven. That is the promise of the cross (Eph 2:7; Rom 5:20).
Our remembrance of Jesus, when we look upon the cross, is not of His death, but of God’s love. It is the true symbol of His love. God’s promise stands firm and can not be wavered. The cross declares that. God’s love never changes for us. This does not mean God is ignorant and unaware of what is happening. God chooses to love us regardless of our sins. God still hates sin, but sin was conquered on the cross. God is not as worried about sin as you are. Sin was conquered on the cross. Why would God worry over a defeated enemy? Your life should not center around your sins. If you do, you waste too much time thinking about your sins. If you have sinned and are struggling with your conscience and guilt, you are wasting your time. Rather than spending time regretting, thinking, desiring, planning, obsessing, anticipating, reacting, manipulating, and acting out your sins, you should accept you are a sinner, believe that God has forgiven you in Christ, and work on living a Christlike life to be a good witness and disciple for Christ. If you spend your days thinking about and feeling guilty over your sin, then missed opportunities will occur as you will not be alert to the drawing of the Holy Spirit. If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are saved according to Scripture (1 Cor 15:1-4; Rom 1:16-17). If you are saved, shouldn’t the next priority be to share the Gospel so others can be saved too?
Despite social norms, there is no personal Jesus. Jesus didn’t die for only you. There is a world full of people who do not know the saving freedom that comes in Jesus Christ, and we are ambassadors who carry this message. We must remember that God’s will for all of His children is not solely focused on stopping our sins, because God took care of that issue on the cross. Rather, His will is for us to hand the Gospel to others around us. Feeling guilty and wallowing over your sin only prevents others from hearing this life-saving message.
Your Sin Will Keep You Humble
God may sometimes allow you to struggle with sin for a lifetime because it keeps you humble. Now that may not sound kosher to you, but let me explain myself before you brush it off. The Apostle Paul wrote of a nagging thorn in his side(2 Cor 12:7-10). Many theologians speculate this thorn was a handicap, possibly nearsightedness. Other interpretations suggest Paul was spiritually attacked. And others allude to the thorn being a sin problem. We do not know exactly what this thorn was, but it bothered him enough to plead with God to take it away three times. God’s answer is something we don’t expect. God does not promise Paul that He will deliver him from his problem. God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:10). There is no promised end date of Paul’s suffering. God just tells him, I have enough grace for you to cover whatever you are struggling with. My grace does not end.
When God says, “My grace is enough for you,” then what are we worrying about? Why be concerned over what God has already covered? He knows our struggles. He knows our pain. He is with us every step of the way as we suffer for righteousness’ sake. We would not be struggling unless God had a purpose and a plan. Many evangelists will tell people God has a wonderful plan for their lives as a means of sharing the Gospel. The reality is sometimes that the plan is to suffer, because suffering causes growth (1 Pet 1:6-7). How could a good, loving God watch His children suffer in agony and pain over their sin, and do nothing about it? That does not sound like a loving God to me. God shows us He loves us by reminding us of the cross. Even in your sinning, the cross of Christ will torment you, in a good way. What I mean is, even in the midst of you sinning, God reminds you of the cross, which is saying, “I still love you, my child.”
You may feel like you have gone too far. You may feel like God has abandoned you. Remember the cross and draw near to Him. The suffering you are going through is refining you in the fire to make you into pure gold. As Paul said, “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7-10). Paul recognized that the suffering was keeping him humble. God is patient. He has been waiting for you to turn to Him for comfort and help. He will let you fall only to draw you closer to Himself. God is not satisfied with your relationship with Him, wherever it may be. There is always room for growth, and there is always room for more love. He wants you closer to Him so that He can love and hug you more.
God is kind and caring beyond understanding. Your suffering produces fruit, and fruit that others benefit from. God sometimes allows us to suffer because it grows us and helps us turn to Him more. The creature desires to depend on his Creator. Are you struggling with sin? Do you feel like God is far from you? Don’t let your sin distract and blind you from what is true. God never stopped loving you. He is closer than you think. Trust in Him and His words. Do you believe He forgave you of your sins? Do you believe He controls your situation and holds you close? Do you believe He is near and holding you right now? Do you feel it, or do you believe it?
“Simul justus et peccator”
Martin Luther wrote the Latin phrase, “simul justus et peccator.” The phrase means, “at the same time righteous and a sinner.” The protestant reformers believed in a dual nature of the redeemed person. A person who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ is justified. The person is a sinner and will continue to be a sinner until glorification. Simultaneously, the same person is justified in Jesus Christ if they have placed faith in Him. The apostle Paul refers to this conflict in his letter to the Romans, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Rom 7:15–25). The justified person does not look any different than the unjustified next door. They are both sinners, and still sinning. Justified persons do not suddenly become non-sinners, meaning they don’t sin. Christian’s sin, and sometimes severely. When Christians sin, they misrepresent Christ.
If you are struggling with sin, then praise the Lord. The struggle only comes if there is an opposing side to your nature. The unbeliever will not struggle over their sin because they are doing what comes naturally to them. Sin is not something they are thinking about. You, on the other hand, are struggling to fight and overcome the temptations. You are trying to do the right thing. That desire for righteousness does not come from nowhere. It only comes from the Holy Spirit convicting your heart. Struggle is the fire that refines you. You may not see it, but if you are struggling, your struggles are lessening. Surely, you may have times of relapse and fall again, but eventually you will get back up because the holy Spirit is with you. Realize you are a sinner and you will always be a sinner so long as you live in this world.
However, that is not the end of the story. We have a promise and a seal that gives our future hope and relief. When we carry our cross, we take our sinful nature with us. Our body of death lingers (Rom 7:24). Don’t give it attention. Leave it alone. Focus on what needs to be done. Represent Christ and be a witness to those around you. Let others know of the saving grace of God. You may notice that the more you share Christ, the more sin’s power diminishes. The body of death will be nothing but a skeleton that has no weight. It may still linger around, but glory to God for His unending love and grace that covers us (Rom 8:1-2).
Conclusion:
The struggle is real. The pain seems to last forever. But just as any paper cut needs time to heal, so do the spiritual scars we carry. You may have practiced sin for many years, but know that God has not let you go. There is a purpose for the pain. God’s purpose is always perfect and good. Turn to Christ in times of need. Trust in God for all His promises. God may take away your sin, and you may never struggle with it again. God may allow you to struggle with it a little longer because there is something to be learned. We must remember that sin is creeping at our door, which holds us back from displaying Christ. Sin causes us to lose faith by doubting God’s promises and assurance of salvation. Even with that kind of power sin has, it was still defeated on the cross. If the cross broke the power of sin, then our struggle is our own doing, by giving sin the attention it does not deserve. The more you keep your eyes on your sins, the more you are handicapped from serving the Lord. We require humility to reshape and return us to a dependent position before God. If arrogance creeps up within us, don’t be surprised if God allows you to fall. But even if you do, know that the struggle is the marker for your belief in Christ. You are struggling for righteousness’ sake, and those seeking righteousness will be filled. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matt 5:6).
