Our recent blog posts have been examining some of the reasons why we may not experience victory in our lives.  We’ve looked at the danger of depending on ourselves and the problem of regarding our spiritual growth as a matter of course.  This blog post will examine the false belief that we are able to eradicate all sin in our lives.  Although this belief is quite appealing it is also quite unscriptural,

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  (1 John 1:8)

A great danger of this view is that we establish a goal that is unattainable.  This is a reason why people can stay trapped in the room of good intentions.  They believe  the false belief, “If I can just get my act together and stop sinning then God will love me.”  The truth is God knows all about your sin and He loves you anyway,

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

God doesn’t get rid of the sin in our lives – He gets rid of the sinner!  That’s the message of the Apostle Paul’s message to the Romans,

knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;  (Romans 6:6)

Paul amplifies that point In the following chapter,

Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.  (Romans 7:4)

 Paul differentiates between who he is as a Christian and the principle of sin in his flesh,

So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.   For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.   But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  (Romans 7:17-20)

As a Christian, Paul is holy and set apart.   He is not defined by his sin but rather he finds his identity in Christ.  The truth is we can never eradicate sin in this lifetime.  Victory in our Christian lives is not a state in which we finally arrive but it is a condition that we experience as we practice the means of grace.

Perhaps an illustration will help.  When you enter a dark room with a candle the darkness diappears at once.  The light counteracts the tendency toward darkness.  As you pass through the room with the candle the tendency toward darkness returns.  If it was possible for the room to continue in a state of illumination by passing through the room once with the candle then the room would not be dependent upon the source of light.  Holiness in our lives is a condition that we experience by abiding in Christ – it is a maintained condition not a steady state.  It is only as we walk in the light that we can experience victory in our lives,

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  (John 8:12)

 Are you walking in the light?

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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