Habitual Sin
Though we are sincere believers, many of us still struggle with places where we keep failing. Certain fleshly attitudes and actions keep popping up in the heat of the moment. When the moment has passed, we are left feeling sorrow, guilt, shame, and worse. Jesus is the source of change and victory over such struggles.
Confidence in the truth that Jesus took away our sins and they are no longer remembered by God is part of the growth Holy Spirit produces in us. This assurance causes us to be truly convinced that sin is no longer an issue between us and God. Scripture tells us, "that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them..." (2 Corinthians 5:19 NASB20) We also know that Jesus is the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. (see John 1:29 & 36)
There is really no doubt about this. If sin were still an issue between us and God, we would not be compatible with Him, and Holy Spirit could not live in us. In that case, the mighty work Jesus did at the cross and through the resurrection would be all but useless. When we really get this, we stop thinking about sin and whether we are sinning or not. We become conscious of Jesus in us, and we stop trying to figure out whether we are sinning or not. That frees us to take the next step.
It’s important for us to see that we are truly righteous and blameless right here and right now. For example, in passages such as Colossians 1:22 (NASB 2020) "yet He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach" and 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB 2020) “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Many have said that this makes us as righteous as Jesus, and, as hard as it can be to allow ourselves to believe it, that is certainly true. We are in Him, and our lives are hidden with Him in God. In 1 John 1:5 (NASB 2020), John wrote, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” There is no unrighteousness in God. If there were unrighteousness in the most minute amount in any of the Persons of the Trinity, God would not be God.
That shows us that sin is simply beneath us. We’re better than that. We are no longer it's slave. Instead, we are predisposed to godly behavior. That is why these recurring ungodly behaviors bother us so much. We are godly people now. We are God’s children in because we have been born again of His seed (see 1 John 3:9) and we now participate in His nature. (see 2 Peter 1:4) The grace of God teaches us to live upright and godly lives (see Titus 2:11-12) and Holy Spirit works in us to want what Father wants. (see Philippians 2:13)
Realizing that truth is helpful because the mere fact that the habitual fleshly behavior and attitude bothers us demonstrates that we didn't really get satisfaction from it. It may have seemed appealing in the moment, but in the end, it led to hurt and destruction. Knowing that takes the power out of the attitude or the action. Over time, we begin to forget about that sin and it tempts us less and less and eventually it becomes a non-issue, part of our past.
That’s the way of Grace. The One who is love teaches us to deny ungodliness and live upright and godly lives right here in the middle of the valley of the shadow of death.
