Struggling with Sin
Imagine you’re driving on a large multi-lane highway. A transport truck ahead is signalling a lane change. From your vantage point, you can see how other drivers are responding. As one driver in the centre lane drops back to let him in, another takes the opportunity to scoot selfishly into the space from the other side. A horn blows, a rude gesture follows. Eventually, the driver who took advantage of the situation passes the cab of the 18-wheeler and the trucker changes lanes safely.
This kind of thing makes me think about the pervasiveness of sin. It is all around us in the words and actions of others. It courses through us in the same way, with the additional hazzard of evil thoughts. But most of the time, we just accept it as normal and don’t waste so much as a nanosecond on it.
But is this the proper response to sin in, and around, us? Jesus was very aware of sin. He saw evidence of it everywhere: the brutal Romans, the self-serving clerics, the arrogant pharisees, the lame beggars, the social outcasts, not to mention the ordinary people whose lives bore the pain of sin, both their own and others.
I think sin was on Jesus’s mind a lot. As your read the gospels, you notice that even as He was dealing with the outward manifestation of it, He was concerned with its source - the heart. When He re-encountered a man he had healed from congenital lameness, He said: “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14 NIV) He had similar words for the adulterous woman. He assured her of forgiveness and left her with the words “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 5:11 NIV)
On two other occasions, Jesus uttered the words “Your sins are forgiven.” Once was when a paralytic man was brought to Him for healing. (See Matthew 9:2) The other time was when an immoral woman was expressing her admiration and affection to Him. (Luke 7:48) In both cases, though each had come to Him for other reasons, Jesus’ priority was forgiving their sin
Because Jesus was divine as well as human, He knew things, we can’t know. For example, when He healed the paralytic man I just mentioned, He challenged the critical pharisees based on what they were thinking. Matthew records that “Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” (Matthew 9:4) There are numerous other examples of Jesus perceiving sinful thoughts in the minds of people around Him. Evil thoughts were as real a part of Jesus environment as the outward consequences of sin that any of us can identify.
Though He had no sin of His own, His ministry was focussed on dealing with sin. At the micro level, this was accomplished by healing people from the physical consequences of sin, casting out demons, and forgiving individuals’ sins. At the macro level, He went to the cross with all of the suffering that involved, experienced separation from God, died as a man because of that separation, and then was raised from the dead three days later.
Since Jesus was so concerned with defeating sin, it is fitting that His followers should share in the battle. It is usually easier for us to challenge the sin in others, but the sin over which we exercise the greatest power is our own. If we aren’t struggling with our own sinful tendencies, I suspect we have lost our sensitivity to them. We assume they are normal and that we can’t do anything about them. So we don’t try. We give up struggling.
We excuse ourselves by thinking “No one is perfect.” “I’m not the only one.” “God made me, He knows I’m weak.” and things like these. James, Peter and Paul all use the word “war” to describe the Christian’s battle with sin. In Hebrews we read: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Hebrews 12:4)
These New Testament writers, knew spiritual power beyond what most of us alive today will ever experience, yet spoke of their awareness of sin, not only in the lives of others, but in their own as well. They lived in days of persecution, when capitulation and betrayal of the faith were constant temptations. Western Christians live in days of relative ease, but capitulation and betrayal of the faith are still constant temptations.
What are the areas of your life where you struggle against sin? Can’t think of any? Then maybe you need to ask yourself if you have simply given up the fight.
Ron Hughes
© December 2007
