Sunday Inspiration - Sinning -

Hello friends! Happy Sunday to each of you. I hope your day is going well. Around here, it looks like it is going to pour down and we are all just relaxing on this very stress free day. I thought for today's Sunday Inspiration post, I would talk about sinning for a few minutes. It's no secret that we all sin. I say and do things all the time that are not God like. I make mistakes like anyone else. But I take those mistakes head on and try to learn from each situation and move on. I would rather admit, that yes...I have sinned and try to figure out a better way, instead of being in denial. We all sin and make mistakes. We don’t always understand why God doesn’t give us the things we desire, but the bottom line is that we don’t have to understand. God’s wisdom exceeds ours, and we are called to accept that. This is what’s known as giving up our will for His. 

 Every person who believes in God has, at one time or another, admitted their inability to stop sinning. While we tend to think the problem comes from weakness in ourselves, the inability to stop sinning usually comes from not knowing or understanding of God’s strength. When we do not understand His power to save, forgive, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9), we can get caught in a destructive cycle of sin, guilt, and fear, which leads to a lack of joy in our salvation, which leads to more sin. 

In Psalm 51:12, David pleads with God, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” He asks God for a return of the joy of his salvation. Joy is key in our victory over sin. It is also important that we understand that God sustains us “with a willing spirit.” God takes joy in saving us, and we take joy in being saved. The joy of salvation comes from accepting the fact that God’s grace covers us, that He will change us and conform us to the image of Christ, and that it is His work, not ours (Romans 8:29; Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:13; Hebrews 13:20-21). Once we understand this, sin loses its power. We no longer feel the impulse to turn to sin as a means of temporary relief from anxiety, because the anxiety and pressure has been relieved once for all by Christ (Hebrews 10:10, 14). Then, the good works we accomplish in faith are done because of love and joy rather than out of fear or duty.

If people could stop sinning by just deciding to stop, we'd all know a lot of perfect people. But no one stops sinning. No one. I sure don't, despite my best efforts. Even Paul confesses that he continues to do what he doesn't want to do. When the Bible tells us to repent, it doesn't mean we're able to stop the sinful behavior by just deciding to (Romans 7).

Instead, repentance means "to turn." We turn our minds back to Christ—confessing where we are and where we long to be. We admit we've sinned and ask Jesus to cleanse us. We can't do that ourselves. It's God who changes us. This process is called sanctification—and it's a result of continued prayer, confession, admitting our dependence on God, and seeking strength.Through sanctification, sin does lose its power over us and we can become stronger. But we never stop sinning because we are human. Therefore, all of us have to keep turning back to Jesus time after time. It's only when we stop returning to God after sinning and start pretending like our sins are OK that we begin doing very serious damage to our relationship with God. If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us (1 John 1:9). Jesus taught the disciples that they needed to forgive people who sinned against them "7 times 70 times" (or 490 times). If he expected his impatient and flawed disciples to forgive that many times, we can be sure that God is willing to forgive us as often as we come humbly and confess our shortcomings to him with a desire for him to change our lives. We are all children of God and we are all going to make mistakes and sin on a daily basis. We are all in this together and we shouldn't judge someone because they sin different from us. We have to focus our own lives, our own sins and asking for our own forgiveness. I hope today and everyday you remember this and remember you don't have to be perfect. Instead, you simply have to try to do better and ask God for forgiveness for your sins. 

I hope you have a beautiful and blessed Sunday. If you have any thoughts you want to share with me and the other readers about sinning; I would love to hear from you in the comments below. 

K Jaggers

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