The holidays have quickly come upon us. Thanksgiving is now behind and Christmas soon after that. The remaining holiday is New Years. There are many who take the opportunity to make new years resolutions at this time. It is a time to reflect back and a time to look forward. How will this year be better than last year? How will I be better than last year? Can I be better than last year? Can I live a more holy lifestyle than last year? Can I live with less sin?
The word sin is a term that causes irritation, frustration, awkwardness, and confusion. Most people just try to avoid the term all together. Often we end up on one extreme or another when it comes to personal sin. One extreme is to believe that we are not sinners. That is clearly untrue, since John pointed out that “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). The other extreme is to believe that we are stuck as sinners and cannot change that. It is this thought that I wish to discuss.
The fist point some may make is that God loves and forgives, so just live the way you want to. It is this concept that Paul addressed in saying that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 5:20-6:4). The salvation that Christ gives is partly to free us from sin. We “who [have] died [are] freed from sin” (Romans 6:7).
Others may say that it is just impossible to quit sinning. While it is impossible to live without any sin in our lives at all, it is not impossible to start gaining some self-control through the power of the Spirit. Paul was clear in stating that “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Peter said, “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation” (2 Peter 2:9). The Scripture is clear that we, through His strength, are capable of resisting sin (Matthew 5:27-30, John 8:11, Romans 6:15-19, Galatians 5:16-24, Ephesians 4:17-5:21, Colossians 3:5-17, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, Hebrews 10:26-31, 1 John 2:1-11).
There are some that insist that people are born into a sinful lifestyle and they cannot be free from it. That is if they even consider it sin. Some believe that an alcoholic is stuck that way, a homosexual is stuck that way, and a murderer became that because of society. We have no responsibility. We blame a disorder or someone else for our problems. It is true that we are born with sinful tendencies. David said, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). It is our very flesh that “sets its desire against the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17). However, to say that we cannot be changed is to call God a liar.
If we say that an alcoholic cannot stop drinking then it is not true that “you will be able to endure” temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). If a homosexual cannot change his lifestyle then it is not true that “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation” (2 Peter 2:9). If a thief is just suffering from being a kleptomaniac, then what is said in the list of Scriptures above is not fair. But all these Scriptures are true. We can escape sin.
Some would say that we should do what comes naturally. We should be who we are. That is to imply that we always want what is good. If we look honestly at society today as well as history, we can clearly see that all of mans wants are not good. We may have been born a certain way, but that doesn’t mean we must stay that way. If we are to live according to our desires, we will be living according to the flesh, which is the very thing that Paul tells us not to do in Galatians 5. In referring to sin Jesus said that, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). My question is “are you living free?” Maybe this should be a consideration when and if we make new years resolutions this coming new year.
