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OVERCOMING SIN
Overcoming unhealthy thoughts and sin may sometimes seem like it is impossible to us, but if God lives in us, it is not impossible. God has promised us a life of righteousness, or right standing with Him, if we will simply allow His grace to reign in our lives.
I’d like to discuss how our thoughts influence our lives, as well as a couple unhealthy emotions that seem to wreak havoc in so many people’s lives. First, we must understand that if we examine our thoughts, we can learn so much about why we feel and act the way we do. Our thoughts create our emotions and our emotions affect our actions. Basically, our thoughts will ultimately determine how we feel and what we do in life.
Our thoughts also identify our spiritual temperature. For example, let’s say that you are experiencing anxiety about something. This is good because that anxiety tells you that something is wrong. Spiritually, we know that something is wrong if we are anxious because God’s word states that we should be experiencing peace if we are in Him.
In Galatians 5:23, it tells us what the fruits of the spirit are. What this means is that we ought to be experiencing all of these positive qualities in our lives if we are God’s.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:23
If we are experiencing these fruits, then we are spiritually healthy. If we are not, we are not healthy spiritually and need to get at the root of the cause if we want change.
The first thing that needs to be done is to identify the unhealthy or negative emotions. For example, they could be feelings of anger, depression, or unworthiness.
If you are feeling angry, ask yourself what kind of thoughts are going on in your head? Evaluate if you are thinking statements such as:
“I’ve been mistreated.”
“He/she always makes me mad.”
“I never get what I want.”
These negative thoughts will cause one to feel angry and/or depressed. Be careful of “always/never” words. They are cognitive distortions, which means they are thoughts that are not necessarily true. They are distorted.
Another example of unhealthy/negative thoughts is, “I can’t be forgiven for my sins.” This causes a feeling of unworthiness in us. It is coupled with thoughts such as:
“I never do anything right.”
“No one cares about me.”
“There is something inheritantly wrong with me if people don’t like me or pay attention to me.”
If you struggle with these types of thoughts, it is important to know what God’s word states concerning this. We need to take our thoughts captive and line them up with God’s word.
The thought, “I never do anything right” is a cognitive distortion. Sometimes we may do something wrong, but to use the term “never” is not true. God makes it clear that sometimes we will go through various trials and even failures, but that does not mean that we are unworthy or should struggle with guilt.
James 1:2-3 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”
It is a lie to think that we cant do anything right. Making a mistake does not mean it’s a bad thing; it simply forces faith to be activated.
A common thought that people wrestle with that is unhealthy is, “I can’t overcome my sin.” This can lead to a life of guilt and condemnation, which is not God’s will. Somehow, we think that WE have the power to get past or overcome our sins, but that is not true. That is what the enemy wants us to think, but God sees it differently.
Listen to what Paul says to the Galatians in 3:2-5. He is talking to them about their misconception that they could somehow work their way to righteousness.
“Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up! Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?” (The Message Bible)
As Paul iterates here, the thought that one can “work” his/her way into right standing with God is false. It is only through God in us that we can overcome sin and have right standing with God.
Let’s take addiction to alcohol as sin as an example. Much of the time, one who is addicted to alcohol is experiencing emotions such as rejection, unworthiness, anger, and guilt. Let’s say the addict wants to stop drinking as a coping mechanism, so he/she goes to church, reads his/her Bible, and prays more. This may help relieve the addiction for awhile, but it usually isn’t long before the addict is back to drinking.
The truth here is that the addict cannot overcome that sin. It has to be God in the addict that causes the overcoming. It is God in us that makes us righteous and delivers us from sin. Our goodness will not come from our job, our kids, or anything outside of God. We are justified and made righteous by faith.
In Romans 3, Paul states that our righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ, not from the law or works.
A vital key for the addict, as well as everyone, is that our thoughts affect our emotions and our emotions affect our behavior. Evaluate what you are thinking when you are struggling. See what God’s word says about the issue. For the alcohol addict, freedom comes through God in that addict, not through human effort. The law leads us to human effort, but grace leads to obedience and freedom.
Can you overcome sin? Not through your own human effort, but through God’s grace working in you, through faith, you can overcome sin. God is faithful and just, and will forgive those who turn to Him.