Beating your head against the wall...

In a lot of churches, sin is a four letter world. I once attended a church service where the pastor freely admitted that sin was not a topic that pastors like to teach about because of the conviction that it causes in the heart of the people that attend. Websters defines conviction as being convinced of an error and compelled to admit the truth.

To me, that's essential. I think a lot of times we go to church and get our checklist on what we could or should do in order to grow in Christ, but we are never convinced that there is something wrong with our current state nor are we compelled to admit that we have not fully accepted our responsibility in battling sin.

I remember the first time I attended a singles class for people in their 30's. It was a Sunday evening and one of the leaders was taking prayer requests. She asked that we pray for her brother who was struggling with alcohol and drug abuse. She said she couldn't see how he couldn't understand the impact that his visible struggle with alcohol was having on his life and the lives of others around him.

Later on, many people were talking openly about people that they were dating that weren't Christians. A few confessed that they struggled in the area of sexual sin. But they kind of glossed over that because so many people in this Christian group had the same struggle.

I asked what the difference was between the person that struggled with drugs and alcohol and the person that struggled with sexual immorality? There was silence. In that moment, they were convinced of an error and compelled to admit the truth.

I'm not going to be bold and say that I was the perfect single person. There were times when I slipped into sexual sin. I'm not proud of those moments, but I tried not to wallow in that and being convicted, I broke off the relationship and explained why I could not continue banging my head against the wall of sin in this area.

Sin is sin. It separates us from God. we can push and fight against it all we want, but we cannot push down that wall. We can pretend that the sin doesn't exist, but it doesn't change the reality.

So, the question is, "Why do Christians sin?" The Bible clearly states that "if any man be in Christ he is a new creation, old things are passed away, all things are new again" (2 Cor 5:17) so why... Why.. WHY?

I think the key lies in a little quoted verse:

Romans 6:11
King James Version (KJV)
 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Reckon - it's the Greek work "logizomai" - it means to decide that something is a reality. For example, if I "logizomai" that my wallet book has $25 in it,  it has $25 in it. If it doesn't, I'm deceiving myself. Logizomai implies that you're dealing with a fact.

Do we live like we are dead to sin? Is that a fact to us?

Do we live like we are alive - sanctified, set apart... for a life of service to God made possible by the death and Resurrection of Jesus? Until we do that... we are going to continue to hit our head against the wall of sin.