Habitually

Is anyone else tired of hearing about our sin?

Too bold?

I’m talking about constant reminders of how sinful we are and all the things we need to work on in our lives. The pressing message that we are sinners saved by grace and have an incredible amount to change in our lives on a regular basis. I won’t dispute that this is true. Romans 12:2 tells us to constantly renew our minds, which I believe whole-heartedly. Scripture is chalked full of instruction for how to live in obedience, things to stay away from, and sin we need to repent from.

But it is ALSO full of ways to walk closely with God and live a significant life of love, holiness, and right standing with Him. I think Jesus was a pretty positive guy while still being very real, upfront, and to the point. Though He did preach on what not to do, he also gave a lot of examples of the right way to do things and talked about the goodness of our Father.

I personally learn a lot better from uplifting and empowering messages, and I feel that some of you are with me on that. I’ve spent far too much of my life trying to balance and manage all of the wrong in my life, and spent far too little of my life focusing on the good. I remember having this huge epiphany in high school about this: The more I focus on God, the less I desire to do wrong. Holy smokes. Revelations galore.

Since then, I have really embraced this and have seen it work wonders. I used to struggle with habitual sin for quite a long time. So much energy and thought was put into getting rid of it and replacing habits. I listed to message after message about how to break sin and why what I was doing was wrong. I worked so hard and really wanted to be obedient to what I knew God wanted for me. But what truly broke those things was putting my passion and energy into Him. Just Him. As I filled myself up with God’s Presence and His goodness, those things just melted away. I lost desire for things that were impossible to shake just by being filled with the Spirit instead.

My favourite verse that exemplifies this is Galations 5:16, “But I say, walk and live habitually in the Holy Spirit (responsive and guided by the Spirit); then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh.” There it is. Plain and simple. Live HABITUALLY in the Holy Spirit, and you’ll lose your desire to sin. My 16 year old self was bang on.  

Being an optimistic person, I love this method of being obedient to God and His Word. If spending time with Him and being filled with His words, His way of life, and His life is how to get rid of the garbage and baggage I have, then sign me up! Not to say that this is the easy way out, but gosh is it ever better than the alternative. I would far rather be overflowing with who He is in order to push out the bad, as opposed to constantly fixing those things to be close to Him. It works in reverse. This is a beautiful picture of grace where we know we don’t have to be perfect to enter His Presence. Doing that in itself brings us closer to who we want to be in Christ. I think this is partially why I love worship music so much. It's an incredible way to get into God's Presence and get rid of the things I've been holding onto and need to give up to Him.

I will never ever ignore the commands set for us or take sin and disobedience lightly. But I will grow closer to the One who I obey in order to live a life of significance.