Struggle with Sin

Tonight I want to take a look at 2 different verses from the book of Romans that are only a mere chapter apart. These verse pinpoint a struggle that every Christian has and after I show the struggle I would like to point out the only 2 solutions that I know of in this battle.

Romans 6:2
By no means! We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?

Romans 7:19
For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.

So these verses highlight the fact that as Christians we have a battle with sin. As the first verse shows us that when we accept Christ as our Savior and begin a life of faith and love in Him we die to our sin. This simply put means that we are set free from sin. We are no longer have a ball and chain around our neck called sin and the death because of this sin. Christ in His death for us and because of His life of holy perfect righteousness has set us free from the bond of sin.

But, the second text from Romans reminds us though that even when we are set free from sin we still have to deal with it. This verse simply put shows us we still yield to the power of sin and still have a bent to sin. So even when Jesus frees us from the bond of sin we still live a life in the flesh this side of eternity. A life in the flesh still has passion and desires that are contrary to God and will cause us to sin. Even when Jesus frees us we can not escape sin. We still struggle and deal with temptation and giving in and sinning as a result. We battle the sin every day in our lives and still yield to it continually.

So what do we do about this struggle with sin even after we are free and how do we deal with this tension in our lives as we face temptation? I have two simple yet very challenging solutions.
#1- Keep on keeping on. Simply put do not give up on this battle and lose the tension. Once you do not feel the tension in your life of the struggle with sin, sin has conquered you and temptation might not even exist in your life anymore because you have gone back to a life of sin and its bondage. We must as lovers of Jesus keep fighting the battle and running from temptation. So my first solution to this struggle is do not give up. Remember and take hope in the fact Jesus is preparing a place someday where this battle will be over and we will never deal with sin again.

Solution #2- Repent, Repent, Repent and when need be repent again. We all sin and even after being free from sin by Jesus we will still sin and sin and sin and sin when we do not want to because it feels good. The only solution I know for sin, this side of heaven, in our lives is to repent when we do sin and miss the mark. We need first to repent to God and become a broken person before Him crying out in our desperate situations of daily need to win the battle against sin. Then we need to repent and show a brokenness to the party that we hurt with our sin. Sometime later I would love to explore a fuller picture of repentance and what it all means, but repentance is something that every lover of Jesus needs in their daily life. And in the struggle and tension against sin we need to repent and repent continually and turn from our sin way and walk in righteousness.

So we all have a struggle, battle, and tension in our lives with sin and we yield to it continually even though Jesus has given us freedom from sin. So keep on keeping on and repent, repent, and repent again. And tomorrow when we all wake up, repeat those same steps again because remember someday for those who love Jesus, He will get rid of the sin tension once and for all. Amen