It’s 2012! Another New Year’s Day
has passed and many of us made New Year’s Resolutions.
This will be the year I overcome my hot temper.
This will be the year I get my finances in order.
This year I will stop drinking.
This
year I will concentrate on others and not myself.
After December 31, 2011 I will overcome my bad habit.
Sound familiar? Unfortunately, for most of us, these resolutions last for about a week. By the time we reach
February, we have abandoned our attempts at a new life entirely. Frustrated and discouraged we wonder, “Can I ever really
change?”
Of course, this is not a new problem. All the way back in New Testament times, the Apostle Paul expressed his frustration in Romans 7:18-19 “For I have the desire to do
what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep
on doing.”
Unfortunately, over the years this Scripture has
been used as an excuse to avoid overcoming sin. After all, even the Apostle Paul saw the difficulty! However,
it was never Paul’s intention to provide us with an escape mechanism in the struggle with sin. In fact, he intended to produce
the exact opposite outcome. He was trying to encourage believers to persevere in their struggle against sin by explaining
that overcoming sin is a difficult process for everyone. He was saying, “Yes, it’s going to be difficult, it’s going
to be a struggle. Don’t expect it to be easy. It’s a battle for all Christians—even me.” However,
he never intended to give us an excuse to give up in the struggle.
In fact, he says in Romans 6:1-2 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We
are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”
And later he encourages the Philippian church by saying, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence,
but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12
But how can we do this? How can we make this year different from all the other years when we started off saying,
“This year I’m going to change!” and ended up giving up in defeat? How do we go from doing the things we don’t want to
do to living our lives free from the sins that entangle us? It’s time we build some spiritual muscle and defeat some of
our sins. Let’s take start by looking at some practical, Biblical ways to overcome sin.
1. Accurately Diagnose
the Problem.
The first step toward changing your behavior
and your life is honestly addressing and identifying the problem. We’ve all heard the phrase, “The first step is admitting
you have a problem.” Whoever said this had the right idea, but they missed the target. The first step is not
admitting you have a problem; rather, the first step is admitting you have a SIN problem.
Too often, we have replaced the word SIN with adjectives that make us more comfortable. We say, “I have an issue, I have
a problem. I’ve made mistakes. I have a sickness or an addiction.” These admissions are socially
acceptable and tolerable, but they don’t solve our real problem which is sin. Trust me, I’m not trying to play games
with words or semantics. In my own life, I have come to realize the importance of calling sin a sin. Honestly,
it wasn’t I truly recognized my “tendencies” were sins, that I was able to properly repent of them and overcome them.
Let me share an example. When I was 2 years old, my Mom became a born again Christian. I accepted Christ into
my heart when I was in kindergarden. From that point on, my heart was committed to Christ. Throughout my childhood
and teenage years, I had a genuine desire to have a personal relationship with Christ and obey Him.
However, despite my genuine love and commitment, there were sins in my life that I could not overcome. One of those sins
was lying. Although my Mom taught my sister and I that lying was wrong and we were punished whenever we got caught lying,
I continued to lie whenever it was convenient. I lied to get out of trouble, or to make my life seem more interesting. Honestly, I was good at it. Many times I would feel convicted and say, “I’m not going to lie anymore”, only to find myself lying
the next time the situation called for it. For years, I struggled with this, trying to overcome my “bad habit”.
After all, what was the big deal? So I made up
some funny stories to impress people or be more interesting to my friends. Okay, maybe I exaggerated the facts of
a situation to make the whole story seem funnier or more exciting. I told myself, “Everybody lies to get out of trouble.” No big problem. To ease my conscience, I made excuses and downplayed “my issue” because I could not overcome this sin.
Finally, there came a point in my twenties when I was forced to
face the fact that this was not a “problem” or a “bad habit”, but it was a sin. The Holy Spirit literally made me face
the truth that I was a liar. I had to stop treating this sin like I would treat the sniffles and start aggressively dealing
it like it was spiritual cancer that had the potential to destroy my soul and my life. It wasn’t until I saw lying as
sin that I was able to break free from it.
Why is it
so important to identity sin? Because after sin is identified you can begin the process of curing it. What is the first
step in that process? Genuine, honest repentance. That’s step 2.
2. Repentance
Repentance is the first step on your journey toward
overcoming sin. 2 Corinthians 7:10 “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret,”
After I realized that lying was a sin that needed to be addressed, the first thing I did was get on my knees and start repenting
to God. I asked Him to forgive me for every time I had lied—including specific instances that I could remember.
I remember making lists of times that I lied and asking God forgive me for each time. After spending hours with
God asking for His forgiveness and truly repenting, I began going to people my lying had affected and asking them to forgive me. It wasn’t easy telling my parents about the times I had lied to them. There were even times when the Holy Spirit led me to make
restitution. For example, there was a time that I lied to get out of a fine in college. Even though I had
graduated and moved on, the Holy Spirit led me to not only write them and ask forgiveness, but I had to pay the fine. No, it wasn’t easy, but it was necessary.
