No it’s not the name of my new band. When I think about my life and the massive amount of sin that dwells in my heart it is often discouraging and overwhelming. Where do I even start?! The account of all my sin since the day I was born is endless. There is nothing I can do to begin to repay or satisfy the debt that I owe. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and Romans 5:8 reminds us that, “while we were still sinners Christ died for us”. There is nothing I can do but sin. I am dead in my transgressions. Since I am talking about our response to sin I want to make it clear that the work or my response to my sin is not based on Salvation. That was done through the work of Christ on the cross. Read Ephesians 2 with me:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
When I think about my sin, the reason I want to eradicate it from my life is because I LOVE Christ and want to give Him all glory. I want sin out of my life because it separates me from God. I’m not trying to earn my salvation or be a good person. I can’t do that. A dead person can not come back to life. Only Christ.
With that in mind, when I look at my life I see sin and I want it gone! I notice that there are times in the day and situations that cause me to sin more, usually internal weaknesses in my heart. For example: hormones, hunger, selfishness, disorganization, lack of communication, being tired are all “weak spots” in my heart. Other external things in my life are what I call “triggers” that like a bullet from a gun sin just shoots out. Clothes on the floor, someone cutting me off, toys on the floor, crayon on furniture, whining children, bills, rude people in stores… Bang! It just sets my sin off before I can stop it!
Think through your heart and day. When does sin run rampant in your heart? Pray and ask God to show you those things. Once you have that list look and see if there is anything that you could do to minimize those things. For example, I really don’t like it when my kids draw on furniture. So to minimize my opportunity to sin in that way all the pens, crayons and scissors in our house are kept super high and behind locked doors. That’s not to say that it won’t ever happen, but it will happen a lot less if they aren’t within reach of little hands. I also have sinful responses in my heart when people are rude or unhelpful in stores. So to strengthen that I pray and ask the Lord to give me grace to extend. I take a deep breath and THINK about my response, smile, and then open my mouth. I can’t control what happens to me but I can control my response. I might be 10% responsible for the problem, but I am 100% accountable for my 10%.
Am I the only one with triggers and weak spots? Memorizing scripture, prayer and meditating on Gods Word are the only sources of strength that I have. And rest assured, we won’t be perfect this side of eternity and we will fail all the time. With Gods grace and the help of the Holy Spirit we might see a little progress.
