As we strive to model ourselves after God’s character, we sometimes stumble and choose to sin for one simple reason: we want to.
This almost seems offensive to think, but if we didn’t hunger for sin, we wouldn’t do it all!
So how do we stop sinning and start hungering for righteousness?
We Hunger For What We Want
I know this is rocket surgery, but as a general rule, we usually don’t do things unless they are appealing or compelling in some way
For example, if you had a choice to either eat a turd sandwich or an ice cream cone, you would probably choose the ice cream right?
Super complicated!
As we naturally gravitate towards things that appeal to our personal preferences, our behavior and choices are usually guided by the things we enjoy and like–this is a consistent, basic tendency of mankind
We can see this through the choices we make around the food we eat, the music we listen to, the friends we hang around with, etc…
Okay, so we all like stuff, duh…
But how does that equate to wanting to sin, sinning is terrible!
While We Are Maturing, Sin Can Be Very Appealing, Do Not Be Afraid To Admit This
James 1:13-14
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed
Based on this, and honest reflection, we have to acknowledge that sin can be compelling, interesting, and, in some cases, exciting
Don’t be afraid to admit that sin is tempting, it is perfectly okay to say this to ourselves and others!
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed
The enemy is sneaky, and wants us to feel like we are in control of our weaknesses when we really aren’t; the biggest mistake we can make is to underestimate the power and attraction of sin, as this is the easiest way to stumble by far
1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour
One thing I have learned, in humility after doing numerous face plants, is that despite whatever guilt I felt before, during, or after, doing sinful things, I would often give in to temptation because I enjoyed sin more than I was concerned about the consequences afterwards
This way of thinking reflected a heart that did not have enough respect or gratitude for God, but this is the state of mind we all find ourselves in when we knowingly choose sinful behavior over God’s righteousness, ie: we decide that the benefit of sin outweighs any perceived negative consequences
For example, I used to have tremendous issues with drugs, porn, and alcohol, and they usually combined to make a completely awful mess in my life, hurting everyone around me, including myself and God
During the twenty year period I was fighting through these things, I crashed and burned repeatedly, sometimes to the point of not being able to keep a job, fell into deep depression, blew apart many friendships and relationships, went through endless cycles of shame and crying out for forgiveness, as well as endured continuous feelings of extreme weakness, and, in the darkest moments, was totally separated from God
Throughout this time, I was lost, hurting, and living a completely double life that denied both God, and my own conscience
Worst of all, because I knew better, I was actively choosing death over life because I saw a lot of short-term benefit in the way I felt physically
In exchange for this escape, I was willing to deny how bad these things made me feel emotionally, spiritually, physically, and intellectually–but it brought me nothing but pain as it was total insanity
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
Through my continuous choices to sin, I was basically eating the turd sandwich instead of the ice cream cone, and doing it over, and over, and over again
However, despite all the prayer, Bible studies, and fantastic advice I got, until I could look past how my sin made me feel and learned to see how it affected others, I wasn’t able to overcome it
The Key To Truly Overcoming Sin Is Empathy, Not Just Following “Rules”
The only way I was able to end sinful habits I had built up over the course of multiple decades was when I stopped looking at sin as disobedience and focused on the fact that my choices to sin actually hurt God’s feelings, as well as the people around me as well
Once this really sunk in, my whole world changed!
1 John 4:20
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen
With this as a guiding principle, it was as if the weaknesses in my character had suddenly been fixed and I now had a powerful reason to resist sin–I was no longer simply trying to follow rules or avoid negative consequences, I was seeking to genuinely protect God’s feelings from being hurt because I valued our relationship and intimacy more than I cared about the “value” of any sin
James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you
Once I started to really care about God’s feelings, it quickly became evident that I was not living a righteous life that reflected any level of gratitude for God’s friendship and sacrifice
I Am Not Crazy, But I Talk To Myself
Even with this new perspective, the reality was, I had to really stop myself from sinning when I felt tempted, as normally when I felt certain urges I would move forward as if something unstoppable was pulling on me
The way to overcome this was to literally stop in the heat of a moment and say things to myself like:
- If you were standing at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die for your sins, would you really do this?
- Jesus forgave your sins and always welcomes you with open arms, does this show your gratitude?
- You don’t want to be the kind of person who knowingly does things that hurt other people’s feelings because you know they will forgive you
- This is wrong, and it has never brought you any benefit, why are you doing this?
- You hate the way this makes you feel, do you really want to hurt yourself and God?
When facing temptation, I had to force myself to think about these types of things and also acknowledge my emotions of guilt, etc… before I did anything
It took a while, but this training was incredibly valuable, and it helped me become empathetic both to God and to others around me
But, one of the most interesting things in that process, is that I was able to understand my own emotions, and learn about who I really was and what I wanted out of life, rather than just chase after what felt compelling without evaluating whether it was good or bad
The choice to overcome sin is always up to you, just remember to make one next time you feel tempted!
Revelation 2:7
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God
1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devourOne thing I have learned, in humility after doing numerous face plants, is that despite whatever guilt I felt before, during, or after, doing sinful things, I would often give in to temptation because I enjoyed sin more than I was concerned about the consequences afterwards
Hello Nathan,
First off I enjoy your writing style, I feel like I can relate to some aspects of your life’s experiences. I do however have a question, the paragraph below verse, peter 1 5:8 you state, and quote: “I would often give in to temptation because I enjoyed sin more than I was concerned about the consequences afterwards.” Why would you say you would have consequences after you just had fun doing whatever act of “sin” you partook in … It sounds to me that some of your best times you’ve had were times when you were “sinning”, do you ever regrette doing some of the things you’ve done? I hope not all of them; its good for you to let lose a little. I’m simply saying that some times it’s fun to get drinks with friends cause a little shenanigans, it keeps you human and you generate some of your best memories.
Take for example this friend I have, his name will remain anonymous… We will just call him Nathan for the sake of the story. well anyways, My friend Nathan got really, really, really, really hammered at our Friends birthday, (we will call him Number 2) to the point he didn’t know where he was, what he was doing, who he was with, just out of control & Hilarious at the same time, so naturally myself and Number 2 were concerned about Nathans well being and from doing anything stupid, so we decided it would be a good idea to try and throw him in the pool, unfortunately we didn’t succeed so we just took him back to his hotel room and tried to put him to bed around 3am at this point, and for an hour or so we sat in his room trying to get Nathan to sleep, in fact he kept running out of his hotel room making all sorts of ruckus yelling random things like “WHO ARE YOU”… “WHAT IS THIS” and we would have to give chase and bring him back. But you know what worked oddly enough I said a prayer aloud I believe it was Our Father… and surprisingly it calmed right down and he finally fell asleep, myself and Number 2 had the funniest time trying to get him to sleep and of couse I left out some of the other things we did that night just to keep it some what PG. But that night I will never forget, it was a great memory we all had a great time and it was in the act of “sinning”. If we didn’t sin, then life would be boring and you would miss out on a lot of life changing experiences.
Hi Mister E,
That sounds like one crazy night, and I will admit, it sounds like a number that I have had in the past
I may draw some criticism, but I generally don’t see anything wrong with having drinks with friends as long as everyone is of age and being responsible, though sometimes people go too far and things can get out of control in ways that were not intended
I agree that sometimes people can live inside boxes according to a set of unthinking “rules”, but there is a balance to all things in life, as long as we don’t sin in the process!
Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit
Colossians 2:21-23
“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence
Y’know, I’ve had much the same experience with sin. It isn’t that I ceased to wrestle with my vices after coming to Christ, it’s more like the momentum of the fight has entirely changed. Before, it was me versus sin and Satan. Now it’s me and Christ versus sin and Satan. The sin and I may be evenly matched, but South Park’s blasphemy aside, no fallen angel is anywhere near the weight class of the Son of God. As I think James MacDonald put it, God’s opposite is not the Devil–God has no equal, no opposite. Satan’s opposite is Michael the Archangel.
It’s nice to think of having that sort of ally–and to have a perspective on what kind of enemy you face. Give the Devil his due, but nothing more. With apologies to Cliff Huxtable, God put us all into this world, and he can take us back out anytime.
I’ve been grievously tempted towards old, bad habits, especially the ones that have social pressure accompanying them. Most of those ex-friends have been written out of my life now. Lust in particular has a way of making you feel so very alive in the moment, but then the self-loathing hits not too long after. And no amount of independent willpower is enough. On my own, I’ve faltered more times than not, and never broken the chains. Because they were chains that I forged for myself. How could I beat myself? Humanists love to yak about the nobility of the human spirit, but they ignore its dark side. As if being ‘good’ were our true nature, and being ‘bad’ was just a mistake, or an error, and we’d ‘learn better’. Hogwash. The incentive to sin, absent the knowledge of God, will always feel greater than the incentive to virtue.
In the end, after so much surrendering to my own sin nature, I finally quit fighting. I gave in, not to me, but to God. And in that surrender, I was given an army of angels to keep me straight. Funny how that works? It’s only by giving up clinging to life that we savor it, only by giving up that we gain the strength to fight.
Can’t say, by the by, that I hold with the notion that all my ‘best memories’ are from when I was sinning. It’s good to cut loose, but how loose do you want to cut? Go light some bums on fire? Hire half a dozen hookers and snort coke off each other? Guzzle booze until someone dies of alcohol poisoning? All those are ‘too extreme’, but the trouble with embracing sin is that it’s opening a door, and on the other side is yet another door. And it’s just an endless series of doors, all leading away from God. You can turn around anytime you want, but why consciously open the door?
I heard a story recently told by a Haitian minister, about a guy who wanted to sell a house. He was asking a high price, and the buyer negotiated him down. The seller agreed, on the condition that he could keep a single hangnail by the back door as his own. The buyer said sure, and moved in. Not long after that, the seller came back with the corpse of a dead dog, and hung it from his nail. The whole house became fetid and unfit for living, and the new family fled, leaving the old owner to move back in to the despoiled residence that had once been his.
I don’t wanna get too moralistic here, but Christ is pretty clear about the stringency with which we’re supposed to battle sin, up to the point of severing limbs and gouging out our own eyes, if they lead us down the wrong path. So why leave the Devil whatever nail he has in our lives? Whatever that ‘little’ thing is that we hold onto and think is ‘okay’, that’s your idol. For me, it was sex. I was willing to give up all the other bad stuff, if the Lord would let me continue a ‘little bit’ of sexual immorality. Just a bit.
No deal, he said. Would you accept a wife who wanted ‘just a little’ infidelity? Even worse, if she brought her lovers into your living room and made you watch? God’s always there, and he ain’t thrilled when we pretend that premeditated sin is kosher. Indulgences are what sparked the Reformation back in the day, if I recall. If you lose in to temptation in the moment, that’s bad, but you can repent. If you wittingly put yourself into a situation where you’re likely to lose to temptation, that’s even worse, but still you can repent. But if you knowingly plan to sin and tell yourself that it’s a good thing? That’s unforgivable, because it cannot be repented, by the very definition of repentance. You’re still facing the wrong way, however slowly and diffidently you may be shuffling your feed down that road.
D’you guys think I’m being too harsh here? I re-read myself, and sound awfully Southern Baptist right now. But our legal system recognizes premeditated crimes as more heinous than those done accidentally, or in the heat of passion. There’s a lot of reasons for that, some more obvious than others. Given that all sin has equal weight before God, it seems like it would be easier to repent of being a second-degree murderer than a first-degree adulterer, or drunkard, or liar, or whatever other ‘minor’ sin we think we can have ‘indulged’.
Hi Bennett,
The point you raise about some sins being unforgivable when they are pre-meditated is interesting, though what scriptural references can be used to substantiate that, I don’t know of any off the top of my head
Jesus and John spoke about unforgivable sins, but it was in reference to something different
Matthew 12:30-32
He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come
1 John 5:16-17
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death
Also, in what sense do you mean that something could be unforgivable, as in not forgivable period or as something that God will hold us accountable for later on judgment day but it could be forgiven then?
Matthew 18:15-18
If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven
Hi Bennett,
Here is the scripture we were looking for regarding pre-meditated, continuous sins being unforgivable
Hebrews 10:26-27
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God