“For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:14-15, NASB).

This statement from Paul resonates particularly deeply with me and probably with many other believers in Christ (and maybe someone who is reading this now). The fact that Paul, the greatest of the apostles, struggled constantly with sin should give us hope that we are not alone in the struggle against the sin nature and that every man (believer or not) has struggled and will continue to struggle with this aspect of ourselves until the day we die. The only man who actually succeeded in not sinning was Jesus Christ himself and he is the key. Through Jesus we are made alive (spiritually) and saved from the slave market of sin, but that doesn’t mean we still don’t have a sin nature. Because of Jesus Christ, those that believe in his saving work on the cross and subsequent resurrection have a place in heaven, as well as the means to live the spiritual life by means of the Holy Spirit. Without the filling of the Holy Spirit we cannot even hope to defeat our old sin nature. At this point, it is up to us to make the volitional decision to choose either our old sin nature or the Holy Spirit. One will bring discipline from God (I must stress that this doesn’t affect your salvation!) and the other blessing from God in time and in eternity.

When it comes right down to it, we are not going to always choose the Holy Spirit. Just as Paul himself stated, we will occasionally (and probably a little more than occasionally if we are being honest) follow our old sin nature. When this does inevitably happens, it is important that we do not despair, fall into a guilt complex, or give up; that is exactly what Satan and his angels want us to do. Instead we should confess our sins before God, repent (which in reality simply means to change your mind/ways), and keep on moving in God’s plan with our heads held up high, for that sin which was committed in the past has been thrown from you as far as east is from west because that sin was already dealt with on the cross. Even David, who was proclaimed by God to be a man after his own heart, fell into some pretty egregious sin. He raped Bathsheba and then to cover up what he did, tried to convince her husband (Uriah the Hittite) to sleep with her (because David conceived a child with her) and when he refused to sleep with his wife to be with his soldiers, David proceeded to put him on the front lines so that he was killed. King David, the greatest king of Israel as stated by God himself, was a rapist, adulterer, and murderer, but none of that mattered ultimately because David, when confronted with truth, said “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13, NASB). At that moment his sin was taken away from him (although there were some major temporal consequences that he had to deal with because of his actions). Ultimately, every sin is against God and God’s solution was Jesus Christ. Salvation is assured but to get back into the plan of God and under the ministry of the Holy Spirit we only have to confess our sins before God privately in our souls (if you want to confess your sins before others that is perfectly fine and probably helpful in some cases, but it isn’t necessary). There are consequences for sin, but after those sins have been confessed, our job is to live up to our mistakes and keep moving in the plan of God for his grace abounds even when we are at our most despicable.

I personally have fallen for the lure of my sin nature more times than I’d like to admit. I have had problems with (and still do) arrogance, fear, jealousy (covetousness), bitterness, self-pity, anger, being self-centered, porn/masturbation, and probably more. It would take me a long time to give you a list of all of my sinful tendencies but that isn’t the issue; it is how I deal with my sin nature patterns. I found that the only thing that really works for me in resisting my sin nature is to be totally engrossed in the Word of God to the point where I don’t even want to engage in that kind of behavior. Putting a focus on my relationship with Christ, the Word of God, and applying God’s Word is far superior to putting faith in human willpower which ultimately always fails at some point.

A few things to remember when being tempted with sin is to not put yourself in compromising position to begin with, actively try to remember the doctrines and/or verses that you have learned from the Word of God, and to always keep your eyes on the prize. What I mean by keeping your eyes on the prize is to constantly remind yourself that every temptation that you face is a test that could result in increased blessings in the eternal state beyond all imagination or losing those potential eternal rewards. Is this short term pleasure or satisfaction really worth sacrificing your eternal rewards for?  As Christ says in revelation “I am coming quickly; hold fast to what you have, in order that no one take your crown.” (Revelation 3:11, NASB). I can’t stress this enough; whenever being tempted by anything, think of the eternal rewards with even more emphasis than the temporal benefits (since there isn’t always a temporal benefit for following God’s plan but there is ALWAYS an eternal one). DON’T LET ANYONE OR ANYTHING, INCLUDING YOUR SIN NATURE, STEAL YOUR CROWN. Confess your sins before God immediately, repent, move on and remember that once you die, your sin nature will be gone along with all other earthly achievements and possessions. All you will have is eternity in heaven (if you believed) and the eternal rewards that you produced under the fellowship of the Holy Spirit on Earth. Pick the Holy Spirit and not your sin nature whenever internal temptation or other tests arise and reap the eternal blessings beyond all dreams, fantasies, and imaginings that the human mind could ever hope to produce.