Turning away from sin
can be very difficult, even sacrificial.

“I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not do,
but what I hate I do…” (Rom 7:14, ESV).

Like Paul, I still struggle with sin, and find that I cannot defeat it myself. Jesus is the remedy: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:25, ESV).

When I forget this, I try to solve my own problem with trying and trying…and failing and failing. Constant failure is hard to live with. God’s plan is easy in comparison: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7, ESV).  

We simply resist sin by turning toward the Lord.

It helps when I remember this: We all know that we should give the Lord our very best. Yet, we are also called to give Him our very worst, because often these are the things we hold most dear. Resisting temptation is about loosening our grip on the things of this world.

In an unexpected twist,
making my own way often leads me in the wrong way.
True freedom is found in obedience. 

Yet obedience feels foreign sometimes. How often we struggle with stubborn sins that we give to God, and then take back again—maybe a grudge, some lingering bitterness over an old hurt? A bad habit: gossip, “little white lies”? Gluttony? Have trouble with your temper? You may identify with these, or it could be something else entirely.

These sins, that are so troublesome to us,
can also become very dear to us.
We don’t want to give them up.
We hide them in our hearts, like a treasure.

When I commit my bitterness, selfishness, gluttony, or pride to the Lord, it is a precious offering.  Just as I am commanded to offer my service, thanksgiving, or praise, I must admit that I owe Him my sin. My sin, sometimes so precious to me, was also precious to Jesus. He counted the expense of it as worthy of the ultimate price; He died to free my heart from its grasp.

When we love the Lord and His work on our behalf, we can release those burdens that so easily entangle us. And “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, ESV). Loving Him helps me to let go of the thoughts, words, and deeds that dishonor Him and sabotage me. It is a daily struggle choice.