Overcoming Sinful Habits

 

In Romans 7:19, the apostle Paul says "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that is what I practice."

All of us struggle with sin in our lives. We struggle with habitual sins, the weakness that tempts us and causes us to fall almost every time. How do I resist the sin that I hate but it pulls me in seemingly every time? This is the timeless question that has haunted man since the Garden of Eden. Self-control is not a part of today’s society. Even Christians within the church struggle with self-control. Look at Hebrews 12:1-2a

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. How do we accomplish this? What is that sin in your life? We all have character flaws. Some of us have big flaws that include addictions and habits that we can’t break away from. Others have more subtle flaws. This is part of living in a fallen world. Sin, sinful desires, and sinful habits will always challenge our lives. How do we lay them aside? It is much easier said than done. Especially for the man or woman that has a habit of sin that seems to be in control of them. I believe that recovery is a two-part process.   You must starve your flesh nature and feed your spiritual nature so you can live in the spirit.  If either side of this principle is neglected, you will eventually fall.   Living life in the spirit is not an easy task, but it definitely is possible for you and necessary if you want to live life to the fullest the way God intended. Living for Christ is very counter culture. There was a time in my life that I denied myself nothing. I gave in to every desire and followed my nature. I was very unfulfilled and my life felt empty. One day I came to the point where I was sick of my empty life and committed to living in obedience. I found when I deny myself the sinful desires, I didn’t feel like I was missing out. I don’t feel like I am missing anything but instead my life began to be fulfilled. The bible says that the Christian has a new nature for a reason. It is a new nature. The new spiritual nature does not live by the same rules of the old one. We have to re-assess our way of thinking. We are still thinking in the old nature and trying to fulfill our spirit and soul and it just does not work.

The problem for most of us is that we are not ready to leave the sinful nature behind. It is strong because we have fed it our entire lives and we are looking at life from the perspective of what feels good to the old nature. But for some reason, we don’t ever seem to catch on that fulfilling the old sin nature never fulfills us. It can’t fulfill us and never will fulfill us. Sin’s only mission is to destroy us. There is always an attractive picture painted promising us gratification, but the beauty will always disappear and the promised gratification disappears after we are hooked. I have never heard of a single account of someone that said on their deathbed that they were glad the lived in sin. But there are numerous accounts of men who died at peace knowing they lived a righteous life.

So how do we lay aside these sins? It is a profoundly simple solution. So simple we have a hard time seeing it. There are 4 steps that I want to talk about that I have found to be beneficial.

1. Deny yourself. If it were not a desire, it would not be temptation. The problem most of us have to deal with is that we are not ready to deny ourselves. You cannot hold on to your old sinful nature and reach for a life of spiritual fulfillment at the same time. You must let go of one or the other. If you hold on to sin, you will never have the abundant, fulfilled life God has designed and offers to you. If you are determined to follow fleshly desires, you have as much fulfillment in your life now as you will ever have. If you desire the fulfilled life, self-control is essential. One problem I had is that I always wanted one more sin. This would be the last time and I would break the habit. The problem was that there was always something new and something fresh and I felt like I was missing out. The ‘one more times’ never ended and never will end. You must be the one to end it. You have to determine that you are willing to deny yourself the fleshly desires. Don’t give in to the lie that you have been doing good and deserve a sin. There are countless ways to justify just one more sin but you must be determined to say "No".
   
2. Identify areas of compromises in your life. When it comes to sinful habits, there is little need to identify areas of sin. Most of us already know where the sins are; we need to identify compromises. The battle of temptation is not lost at the point of temptation. It was lost long before the point of temptation. The battle is decided at the point you choose to set the direction of your lifestyle. The temptation battle is won or lost by how you choose to live your everyday life. For example, if you have a problem with watching adult movies and looking at dirty magazines, resisting the movies and magazines is a lost cause if this is where you are drawing the line. The key to resisting temptation is to identify the habits and compromises that bring you to the point of temptation. When we want to give in we justify our actions by little compromises. It is hard to justify a headlong leap, but inching closer to the line to investigate is easy to justify. When we are on the edge, it is only a little compromise that takes us over.
   
   Satan is not going to fight you unless it is at his advantage. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. If he can’t devour you, he is not going to attack. Temptation is the fatal blow. Like a boxer, that fatal blow can only be delivered if he is in a position of advantage. An example is that if Satan should tempt me to go out and attack women on the streets of Atlanta, that would not even be a temptation. The thought would be dismissed so quickly that I would never even acknowledge its presence. But there are men out there today that would find that temptation overwhelming. If Satan tosses the temptation for me to go and steal a car, I would never notice it because that is not a weakness of mine. But there are men out there that find this type of temptation irresistible. But there are habitual sins in my past that has been irresistible. I had sinful habits that haunted me for well over 20 years. Every time it called, I was swept away in the flood of temptation. But today I am not tempted and seldom even notice. The tempting thoughts that once dominated my mind are not even placed before me.


Why are the temptations of the past not tempting today? Position and advantage. Satan does not play when he will loose. The bible says that if you resist the devil he will flee from you. The advantage is not to wait until the moment of temptation. At the point of temptation, the devil is in a position of advantage. A boxer on the ropes in a defensive position is always at a disadvantage. You need to be on the offensive with the advantage in your favor. How do you do this? Come up with a strategy and overcome your weakness by guarding it. The bible says to guard your ways. If you have a problem with giving in to so called adult movies, magazines and establishments, the key is not found in resisting these temptations but identifying what leads you to these temptations. It is up to you to decide now if you are willing to break away. If you are, look for the point where you begin to compromise and go on offense. The biggest enemy you face is compromise. Your problem may start off at girl watching. After all, looking is not a sin. Then you may be tempted to buy that swimsuit issue, watch a movie that has a little sex in it, but still easy to justify – after all it’s not porn. Where does the compromise stop? It doesn’t. You will always be able to justify the next step. You will always be able to justify to yourself the point where you start sinning. The battle wasn’t lost at the sin; it was lost at the FIRST compromise. The line has to be drawn. This brings me to the 3^rd point.

3. Set yourself disciplines. Job 31:1 says, I have made a covenant with my eyes, why then should I look upon a beautiful woman.

That is discipline. Make a covenant (or commitment) and stick to it. This is where the rubber meets the road. Which do you want? Do you want to let go of your sinful nature, or do you want to let go of your relationship with God? You will not fall into righteousness. That takes effort and commitment. Anyone can fall into sin. Just do nothing. Sin will always find you and sin will lead you if you allow it. You have to pursue godliness. Satan does not come at you with the club of temptation. If he did, most people would have little trouble identifying him as an enemy. What he does is cast that lure of temptation. He will cast the carrot right at your feet. You can compromise and have a little taste before he pulls it in. Then you have to make the next compromise. Have a little taste and he’ll pull it farther down the trail. When you have dropped your defenses, he will move into position and then he gives the fatal blow. You are in his corner now and you are distracted by your desires and vulnerable. That is how he always works.

The battle is won or lost when the lure is put before us. Don’t look. Don’t touch. Don’t taste. It is that simple. If you never compromise, you will never fall back into temptation. Your character flaw will not be your weakness. If you are sitting in the mall and that beautiful girl walks by, don’t look. If you catch yourself looking, turn away. Obviously you cannot help but see. It is that long stare or second look that draws you in. The problem is that we don’t want to turn away. But if we are not willing to deprive ourselves of a small compromise, how will we ever expect to resist when temptation hits us between the eyes? We will always loose. It only takes one compromise to start that slide toward temptation. When you refuse to look, at first you will feel like you are missing out. But soon you will find that you aren’t missing anything except the frustration you felt when you kept caving in to your habitual sins. Your flesh nature has to be cut off at the earliest point. It only grows stronger with each compromise. If you are not strong enough to subdue the flesh at the first compromise, you definitely will not be strong enough to regain self-control when temptation to sin calls your name. The real question is, how bad do you want control over your life. You are subject to someone. You are not your own master. You can submit to God and live in the Spirit, or live in temptation. There is no middle ground. You don’t have the power to crucify the old nature. You can submit to God and let the Holy Spirit crucify your sinful nature. You also have the right to forfeit that power and allow sin to control you. The choice is yours. You cannot be devoured in God’s presence. You must be drawn away before you can be devoured.

4. Feed your spiritual nature. We have all fallen into sin. Each time we sin or compromise our relationship with Christ, we feed our old sinful nature. To live a victorious life the way God intended, we have to shift that balance of power away from our sinful nature. We spent most of our lives allowing our old nature to grow and it has become very strong. The disciplines I spoke about will starve that old nature, but you also must feed the spiritual nature. Sinful habits fill our nature, removing those will leave a void. You can’t leave a huge void in your life. If you do, the sinful nature will be the dominant one. Like I said earlier, you don’t fall into righteousness. You can’t feed your spiritual man once a week, once a month, or once a year and expect to be healthy. You need to feed it everyday. Prayer and bible study are disciplines you must make time for. Start small and develop consistent habits. Take a few minutes each morning to read some in the bible. To help concentrate, I have found it helpful to write down what points I find in a passage. Pick out a meaningful verse or group of verses and put them on a 3x5 note card. Review them twice a day for 6 weeks and then every 6 months for the rest of your life. Once a week pick out another verse or group of verses.

Take a few minutes each morning to pray for the day, be thankful to God for all things, and pray for someone’s needs. Once a week or more, take time alone for quiet time with God. It will change your life. Write it on a schedule and stick to it. If possible, I like to take a long walk in a wooded park. I let God speak to me. I learn more during that quiet time than any other time. I pray and I listen. There is no way to teach someone how to commune with God. Just go out there and you will start to see that time with God grow into a relationship with him. Like any relationship, it will be awkward at first. But as the relationship grows, it becomes natural and familiar.

Living and growing in Christ takes commitment. Few people are willing to make that commitment. That is why most Christians do not have power and fulfillment in their lives. The spiritual nature is different. We can’t expect to live like the flesh and have our lives fulfilled. Develop a vertical lifestyle. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength. If you live to please God and bring God joy, you will be fulfilled and happy. Fulfill God’s commands and let God worry about fulfilling you. You cannot fulfill yourself. If you chase happiness and gratification, you will chase them the rest of your life and will not find them. You may have a moment of gratification but it is always short lived. When I denied nothing from my desires, I somehow felt empty and unfulfilled. The opposite of what the world says will happen. When I started learning how to deny myself of my sinful desires and pursued God, I found I wasn’t denied of fulfillment. Instead I feel fulfilled and satisfied. Turn from your old habits. Repent and make that lifestyle change along with the commitment to zero compromise.

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