Have you ever asked yourself, "Why do I still sin if I'm a Christian? Couldn't God just take away my desire to sin?" If you're like me, you might get impatient with your sanctification process. However, we all must ask ourselves a very important question, who's in charge of our sanctification in the first place? I mean we all know that Jesus is the one who justifies a sinner. More specifically, He [Jesus] takes a person guilty of committing crimes against God and declares that person not guilty based on the payment He made on their behalf. Jesus paid the criminal's fine in His life's blood - this is what justification means. But sanctification is what takes place in a Christian's life the moment they are justified and continually there after. This is what theologians call "positional" and "progressive" sanctification. The moment you become a Christian (justification) you are set apart for holy use (positional sanctification). However, the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus will be a continuous struggle in this lifetime (progressive sanctification). When a criminal is found not guilty in the courtroom he is technically a free man, however, he still may have to go through a lot of processing before that's made a reality. This "positionally free man" still has to be released from his handcuffs, leave the courtroom, go back to the prison for out-processing, put on civilian clothes, and walk out of the prison before he is really free. We as Christians must also go through an "out-processing" in this life before we are truly free from our struggle with sin. And this freedom will come the moment we die and are present with Jesus. This is something we have to look forward to, however, what are we to do with our current struggle with sin. I believe the first thing we must do is realize that our sanctification process didn't begin with our efforts and it surely isn't sustained by our efforts. Jesus is the One who has set us apart for holy use and Jesus is the One who will complete the work in us that He has begun (Heb. 2:11; 10:10; 1 Thess. 3:12-13; Eph. 4:23-24; 2 Cor. 3:18).
When I became a Christian many of my old sinful habits went away immediately. However, there were certain struggles I had that just seemed impossible to overcome. I would pray over and over for God to free me from these things that were not pleasing to Him. Those prayers were not answered in the time I would have preferred, but they were answered in just the right time. If those prayers would have been answered when I wanted them to, my life would look completely different right now. God was purposeful in allowing me to struggle with certain sins in my life in order to bring His name glory. Now don't get me wrong here, God is not the cause of our sin, James 1:13 is very clear on that issue. But He does purpose certain trials to happen in a believer's life, even so, there will always be an escape from sin (1 Cor. 10:13). Now you may be asking, "How in the world does God get glory from my struggles with sin?" I would like to offer a few points to answer this question.
Our struggles:
1.) Keep us humble. If God took away all of our struggles from the start, we would have the tendency to become very prideful. And as the proverb goes, pride comes before the fall (Prov 16:18).
2.) Help us help others. God may allow us to go through difficult times so that we may be patient and understanding towards those who are going through the same struggles we faced.
3.) Help us form the habit of reminding ourselves of the Gospel on a daily basis. When the Holy Spirit convicts a believer of sin, the believer comes face to face with the cross and the penalty Jesus paid with His life's blood.
4.) Cause our love and dependency for Christ to grow. True Christians want to stop sinning. The Holy Spirit's sanctifying work will lead the believer to pray, fast, read the bible, memorize verses, listen to sermons, and seek godly counsel from mature believers. These things cause us to become dependent upon God for our sanctification. Not only that, as we experience God's patience and forgiveness during our struggles, our love for Him will increase (Luke 7:47).
5.) Display the sufficiency of God's grace. God has promised to supply us with grace as we go through our struggles. And the weaker the human instrument, the greater God's grace shines through (2 Cor. 12:9). However, God's grace should never be an excuse to sin (Rom 6:1).
Please do not get the wrong impression from this article. I am in no way, shape, or form minimizing the severity of sin. Sin is wrong, ugly, detestable, and placed our Lord and Savior on the cross. We should fight it, make war against it, hate it, and eradicate it from our lives. However, we must realize that our fight against sin doesn't come from our own power or strength, but instead is overcome by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Whenever we read or hear God's word and feel motivation to act against our sin, we must remember that the motivation to act doesn't come from something inherently good in us. Instead, it comes from the Holy Spirit and the strength He gives us to overcome sin (Col. 1:29). When and how He does this is completely up to Him. In this lifetime we will find ourselves in a continual battle against sin and the more we grow closer to Christ the more we become aware of our depravity. Therefore, our difficulties will only continue, but one thing is certain and that is - God is sovereign in our struggles.
Psalms 40:1-2:
I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
