Once you are saved, I believe that you develop a sense of self-awareness through the Holy Spirit. You start seeing your problems as what they are...flaws created by sin. The effect of salvation through Jesus is that it brings about a consciousness to sin as the Holy Spirit makes its home within us. We start to understand sin for what it is and the power it has on our lives and on others. We see its effects more clearly, the destructive power that it has and how it ruins our lives and those around us.
Sometimes, I do not think we truly understand how frightening sin is and how it dictates our lives. No matter what character in the Bible that we read about, there was always a flaw. Even David whom was mentioned was a man after God's own heart, committed adultery and tried to cover it up by murdering the woman's husband. I do not think that this was David's plan to begin with, but sin creeps in and destroys when we least expect. As the Bible says, everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). When the prophet Nathaniel came to hold David accountable for his sin, it humbled David, and he had to pay the consequences for his actions.
Even still, we look at other people to be examples of a Christian who walks with God. It is through real life examples of others that we create a stronghold to keep ourselves strong in faith. To say that it is possible to live a sinless life. But these people, these examples in our life, never seem to work out. Their mistakes causes us to falter and wonder if living a Holy life is even possible. We lose the encouragement that we can win the fight against sin and the schemes of the devil.
This sin, this inability to do what is right at all times, does humble us. We hurt others with our actions, we cause others to stumble who rely on us for encouragement, and we do things out of our own selfish desires. We see the consistent failures of those around us and wonder if there is such a thing as a good Christian? We fail others ourselves…and we feel regret, thinking if its even worth it to try and live for God. Paul says,
“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” Rom. 7: 18-25 (NIV).
Along comes Jesus, whom the Bible says is without sin. 1 John 3:5 says, "But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin." He becomes this example for us. This encouragement that you can fight the sin in your life and overcome it. We may never be perfect in this life, but we should not give up hope to strive for the sake of righteousness.
Micah 6:8 says that God wants us to walk humbly with him. Thus, God is not looking for your perfection and we need to understand that we cannot live this life trying to do what is right on our own. We need to rely on God. His strength will guide us, His Holiness will lead us, and His might will hold us up. People do not want to see our pride of being better than them, they want to see someone who realizes that no one can reach this place without help, without guidance, without the Holy Spirits help. Our love and forgiveness with each other is what pulls those who sin back up. Do we do this all the time? Heck no! But I think that love and forgiveness is an easier step than judging. Let God be the judge and let us encourage instead. As Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing".
I constantly feel a heavy burden of weight on my shoulders to achieve to the standards of a “good” Christian. Even though having high standards for myself is important and sin and hurt to others weigh heavy on my heart. I have to understand that I cannot achieve anything fruitful without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is why Jesus sums up the old testament in one sentence as he knew beyond a doubt that being under a law dos and don'ts will not give us the heart for others that He wants us to have.
“[Jesus] said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” - Luke 10:27
We should be humbled by sin and the consequences that it has on our lives. We need to realize the gravity of it and the sickness it brings. So let us be humbled by our sin, not to fall into depression because of it, but instead with a want to change it. And instead of letting those who sin fall and be left at the bottom…why do we not just…dive in after them? Should we not rescue our fellow brothers and sisters from the depths that sin brings? So, let us continue to fight for the sake of righteousness so we can be the kingdom of God on this Earth to others.
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