Just like the apple that fell next to Isaac Newton we too would fall into our sin if we didn’t have God holding us up.
The Fight
Sometimes I get discouraged with myself, every time that I don’t consciously think about doing God’s will I stumble. It shouldn’t surprise me though; that’s what my flesh does, it sins every chance that it gets. I think I forget how desperately wicked my heart is and then I let down my guard and that’s exactly what Satan wants. He desires us to have confidence in ourselves so that we sin. It is impossible to be righteous without God actively working in our lives. So when we become ‘self-sufficient’ then we fall into sin. Let’s not forget how easy it is for us to sin; because our lives are a battle. If we are not battling against our sinful desires we are losing. Remember we are “fighting a good fight” [efn_note]1 Timothy 6:12[/efn_note]
The Gravity
One of the biggest lies that Satan tells us is that our sin is simply not as bad as God thinks it is. Just like the garden of Eden when Satan tells Eve that she “…surely will not die!” Satan repeats this lie through today. God tells us that divorce is a sin and we live in a world with a 50% divorce rate. Now more than ever we must follow what God says about sin instead of what the world says. In a world of relative truths, let us stand tall of the absolute truth of the Bible. “…first of all, that we must be absolutely convinced that the Bible is God’s Word– that what Scripture says, God says. We need to approach the Bible with the deep, settled conviction that it accurately expresses the mind of God and the will of God as to how we are to live.” (Jerry Bridges The Disciplines of Grace)
“This is were mortification actually begins, with a right attitude towards sin.” Jerry Bridges (The Disciplines of Grace)
“To mortify sin we must focus on its true nature. So often we are troubled with a persistent sin only because it disturbs our peace and makes us feel guilty. We need to focus on it as an act of rebellion against God.” (Jerry Bridges The Disciplines of Grace)
I said in an earlier blog post about every choice we make either leads us closer to Christ or farther away. “You are going to be what you are now becoming.’ And what you are now becoming is dependent on the choices you make.” (Dawson Trotman, Jerry Bridges The Disciplines of Grace)
Sin is like a monster. The more you feed it (or act on that sinful habit) the bigger and stronger it gets. Think about starving sin and feeding righteousness.
“Sin tends to cloud our reason, dull our conscience, stimulate our sinful desires, and weaken our wills. Because of this, each sin we commit reinforces the habit of sinning and makes it easier to give in to that temptation the next time we encounter it.” (Jerry Bridges The Disciplines of Grace)
And so when we realize just how much sin affects our thought I believe we have to take a step back. Maybe we shouldn’t rely so heavily on our thoughts and feelings if there are inherently sinful. Maybe the only way we can truly know what is right and wrong is through the Bible. When we realize our total lack of goodness by ourselves the only things left to do are be depressed or fall at the feet of the one who saved us from our sin. Because God created us, in the beginning, to be so much more than slaves to our sin nature. He created us to thrive in humility, dependent on Him alone. Because He’s the only one that has shown us He is always trustworthy and always faithful.
“And when we finally learn this– when we finally realize that we have nothing that we have not received– we’ve taken the first step to become grateful, humble people who can steward our resources well.” (Humble Roots Hannah Anderson)
“Pride convinces us that we are stronger and more capable than we actually are. Pride convinces us that we must do and be more than we are able.” (Humble Roots Hannah Anderson)
So what do we do with this massive weight of sin that we are born with? We go to the only one who has successfully conquered sin, Jesus. We come to Him, full of grace and mercy, to find our true rest. “Jesus Christ is the one who restores both our humility and our humanity. And in His glorious resting place–under the shade of His branches–we find rest.” (Humble Roots Hannah Anderson) So instead of being ruled by our own sin, let’s press on every day putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit. (Romans 8:13)
Redeemed by the King
My Redeemed Life 