Is there this sin that just seems to haunt you? No matter how hard you try you just can’t get away from it, can’t stop doing it, and pray constantly for the Lord to save you from it? You’re not alone. I am right there with you…praying, wrestling, hoping, failing and falling into discouragement, recovering and fighting again.All of us sin. John said if someone doesn’t admit that they sin that they are a liar and that there is no truth in them. So the fact that you recognize your need to stop doing what you are doing is a good thing.
The other night, my son and I were talking. He was struggling with an issue that he just can’t seem to beat. He was feeling very ashamed, and condemned for something he did. I realized that I needed to help him out of the place of self-loathing he was in and lead him into forgiveness and healing. So, we started off in Romans 8, where Paul says that there is no condemnation in Christ. Meaning, no matter who you are, or what you have done, if you belong to Jesus, you have been set free from the judgment that comes with sin.
Of course, I had to explain to my son what condemnation means. I took him over to Romans 7:18-19. In those verses, Paul revealed his own weakness to the Romans. He told them that he wanted to do what was good, but he couldn’t, and he tried to stop doing what was wrong but he couldn’t seem to do that either. Even the greatest of apostles was human and had to deal with the reality of having a nature that was born to sin.
But the thing that made Paul so amazing was that he KNEW he was totally, absolutely forgiven for every sin he had committed and for everyone he would commit. He knew that he had been set free from the law of sin (that nature that was born to sin) and of death by Jesus. Paul could freely confess his weakness to the Romans, while at the same time telling them that he wasn’t condemned, because he knew that Jesus had defeated the sin in his life and he stood before God forgiven and clean. That is what no condemnation means…whole and clean before God. My son started to physically relax as I shared with him this truth. He was finding acceptance, love and rest in the forgiveness that can only be found in Jesus.
At the same time though, I told him that he still needed to confess his sin. He needed to talk to God and say he was sorry for what he had done. Trying to hide it and feeling ashamed only put up a wall that kept him from feeling safe with God, feeling forgiven. I remembered 1 John 1:9 and told him that as soon as we tell God our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (not meeting His standard of right). So we prayed. And as I prayed out loud for my son to repeat after me, I said something that really hit my heart. I said, “Dear Father, save us from our sin.”
And He said, “I have already done that. I paid for them on the cross, and you were saved when you surrendered your life to Me. When you get tied to a sin, you don’t need to be saved from it. You have chosen to make it the focus of your life, and have replaced my Lordship with its. I am your Savior, I am also Lord of all creation, but when you are sinning over and over again, that proves that I am not Lord in your life.” I stopped praying with my son, and said, “WOW”. I am praying the wrong way. I am asking God to do for me what He has already done, and expecting Him to rescue me from something I have replaced Him with. Jesus never forces himself on us. If we chose to worship something or someone else, He lets us…with a broken heart He waits for us to return to Him. The confession John talks about in 1 John reestablishes Jesus as the head of our lives. When we admit we have a problem, when we admit we are sinning, when we come to Jesus and say we are sorry, we are taking whatever we were worshipping off its pedestal and focusing our attention on Jesus, who was never off of His.
All sin is derived from a self focus, when we love ourselves with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul and all our strength.
If you are struggling with a sin that seems to dominate your life, pray but don’t ask for God to save you from it. Instead surrender your heart, soul, mind and strength to Jesus, and He will set you free because you have allowed Him to be Lord as well as the Savior of your life.
