Why Are Some Sins Harder to Get Rid of Than Others?

Face it, we ALL struggle with sin. Even non-believers struggle with sin in their life, but it seems none more so than a believer in Jesus. Some people think when they accept Christ into their life, all that temptation and sin simply goes away. We walk around in a carefree existence waiting until God comes or we die. That is such a far cry from what the life of a believer is especially when you accept Jesus into your heart.

In fact, once you do that, you just created a target for the enemy who wasn't worried about you when you weren't a follower of Christ. You were doing just fine on your own. Now that you became saved through your acceptance of Jesus, it seems like an all out assault was just unleashed upon you. In fact, in some ways it has.

But that simply means you made the right decision, because now you are on target hopefully to share this with others and lead more people to follow Jesus and the enemy, Satan wants to do everything he can to prevent that from happening. So the spiritual battle begins in the life of the believer. Now you will be tempted in every way imaginable. He is quite clever too because he knows where we struggle, because he and his minions have been watching you up to this point and knows where your weakness is.

Just like in war, you don't attack your adversary where they are strong, you find their weak spots and begin to slowly work on that, hoping to gain an entrance. When we first became believers in Jesus, God did an immediate work in our lives. We may not recognize it yet, but it has happened. Perhaps you were someone who used foul language as part of your day to day speech and now you don't. In fact, just hearing it now, really bothers you. For you, that is your immediate work from God. For others who struggle with addiction like drugs or alcohol, those addictions are now suddenly gone, or perhaps some who struggle with sexual sin, those desires are now removed.

God touches some of our sinful natures right away and takes away others in time, kinda like peeling back the layers of an onion, to get at what is underneath.

God works on us a little at a time, and those that he finally gets to many years later, are deeply seeded things in our lives like motives. God is always at work in the life of a believer, refining them, tearing us apart and rebuilding us as though cleaning house.

Sin, pride and puffed up Pharisees hardly lead anyone to Jesus. We can be a lot like that. We don't share Jesus with anyone. Our joy and liberation in Christ however needs to be shared. Some Christians are so beaten down and defeated, they can't share the Jesus they've been struggling with with others. They're miserable and don't feel worthy.

Romans 8:1 (NIV) ~ "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (NIV) ~ "Avoid every kind of evil."

The word avoid simply means abstain, barracade, fence off. It means to imploy a means of self control. Simply put it means Don't buy the book. Don't watch the movie, Don't go to that place. Everything that suggest evil. All things are under the control of sin and evil. Stay away from them. Don't even go near them, look at them or entertain thoughts of what it must be like.

Trust me, the devil will do all he can to help you with some of those things you struggle with. It might be pop up ads on the sidebar of a website you're visiting, it might be the co-worker at your job, who needs a friend to talk to about her/his relationship; it might be going out with friends to getaway from things and suddenly you find yourself where you don't belong. RUN! Get out, get away!

In all situations where a believer is tempted, there is always a way out. Stop trying to make excuses for rationalizing why you are there. You don't have reason for it. Don't even try to use the excuse that you're hoping to win people for Jesus by being there. Let someone else who doesn't have a weakness talk to that person if that is where God wants them to hear about Him. God will never put you in a place of utter weakness to see how you hold up under the pressure of sin. There are plenty of people in the body of Jesus who aren't weak in the same areas that we are, God will use them, or He will create opportunities outside your temptations for you to have that discussion with someone.

It is interesting when believers fall and you can easily go back and see the subtle signs the enemy has used to bring them to their knees but they failed to yield to the warning signs.

Remember God is not done with you until you are no longer breathing anymore. Our sinful natures are still at work and will be until He calls us home. Be aware of those times when you are struggling with something you had thought was long buried in your life. God is simply cleaning your home out one area at a time. I personally don't think we could handle it if he cleaned it all at once. God is so gracious and merciful like that.

Psalm 51:12-13 (NIV) Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will turn back to you."

Interesting that this was written just after David sinned with Bathsheba and his own sins were pointed out to him. David knew that he needed God's help to clean up his own sinful life. He need the joy of the salvation of God and a willing Spirit for his heart to be changed, and David knew exactly where to go to find help. Not the world, but through his faith in God.

Romans 6:11 (NIV) ~ "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Believers in Jesus, we need to remember that sin has no power in our lives anymore. The power of sin died in your life when you accepted Jesus. The NEW you needs to tell the OLD you where to go.

Colossians 3:1-3 (NIV) ~ " Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."

Psalm 100:1-5 (NIV) ~"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

When is the last day you realized how great God is that you wanted shout, holding nothing back in adoration and praise? What is your attitude about heading out to church?

We might just want to get our attitudes in line with God again, repent of our sins even unconfessed, unknown sin, that might be holding us back from that perfect fellowship with Him. God is simply standing by and waiting for you to get right with Him and come on back home. He's got great things in mind for you, but we need our willing spirit to fall in line with His. Only then will we begin to spiritually grow for Jesus and set out to do the things He has in store that only we can fulfill.