The Seed Blog: Cheaters, Beating Sin

How many times have we said, or heard others say, "I am so thankful that God saved me from my sins?” I understand and obviously totally agree with that statement. But most often all we really mean by that is, "I am so thankful that I am forgiven and saved from Hell." Many of us do not realize or ever contemplate all we are being forgiven and saved from in our sin. Or what the real effects of sin would be on us right now if we had not been saved from them through His Word, Spirit and Blood. Or, what that sin truly represents to God and how it affects Him. We cannot even begin to appreciate our deliverance from sin until we see these things clearly. We cannot ever praise, worship and thank Him from the heart until we comprehend where we were and how we've hurt Him. So today, let's stop and take a hard look at these things together. For some, maybe for the first time and I promise you, it will change your view of God and of the sins we often still covet.

The short answer for, "What is sin," is it’s simply knowing God, knowing His Will and choosing not to follow what we clearly understand He desires of us: James 4:17. But Scriptures are so numerous and clear about how much deeper, more meaningful and deadlier sin actually is than in this simple definition. Yet, we usually miss it, in our minds and hearts, it is not the acts of wrong doing that make sin so horrible. It is the personal rejection of God when we choose to put something above our love for Him. Have you ever considered why God carefully and repeatedly chooses to use illustrations in the Old and New Testaments which define sin as adultery? Ezekiel 16:32-34; Hosea 9:1; James 4:4-5.  God gives us one of the most illustrative and painful comparisons that can possibly be made as His personal expression of His feelings towards us in our sin. Sin is a purposeful rejection and betrayal by one loved more than life. Sin is seeing the heart of one that means everything to you, wants someone else more than you. Sin is being forsaken by your most desired person in the world—some of you have experienced this rejection. All of us have known someone going through the experience of adultery and divorce. It is the most earth-shattering, life-changing, devastation one can experience (secular psychologists-worst anxiety) to be rejected because you seemingly weren't enough, to make the most important person in your life happy. This is God's picture of choice for how He feels when we sin against him. Sin, at its core, is not letting God do and be all that He desires in our life at the deepest, most intimate level, and then lusting after something else to fill that intimate need you wouldn't give to Him, choosing something else to give us happiness, purpose and passion, just like choosing another person over your spouse because they don't make you happy. Sin is knowing that Someone as creative, loving, intelligent and powerful as Jesus Christ has traded His life to be with me Is quite literally, eagerly, passionately walking with me—and I am still wanting and choosing other things with all of my heart. Sin is like having a gorgeous, smart, successful spouse who gave up everything in their entire world to be with you alone, and they are excited and passionate to be with you, letting their world revolve around you—and you choose to sleep with some loser who just wants to use you and move on behind your spouse's back. Sin is not caring how we hurt Someone like that with our actions, not caring if we are attractive to them desirous to them—while they see us fixing up to be our best in pursuit of attracting someone else. Listen to God's expression of these very thoughts about our rejection of Him: Hosea 2:13. In order to have the ultimate level of intimacy with someone you must make yourself completely vulnerable to that person. This is what makes sharing and loving so special and sacred. Our God, in His passion and humbleness for us has made Himself vulnerable to us. He has placed into our hands the ability to touch Him at the deepest level; to rouse God's emotions, fill His thoughts; to literally, and greatly affect God. And with our desire for sin, we take that unfathomable honor and use it to make Him feel rejected and despised. With that epiphany, how can we dare to say, "Why can't you just accept me as I am?" When who we are is a blatant, cheating rejection of Him, selfishly chasing what we want with no thoughts of loving, pleasing, or even accepting Him back. Of all the evils which sin brings into our lives, of all the people that are hurt by our selfishness, God is the ultimate victim of our sins; the One sinned against the deepest, the One hurt the most, and pushed the farthest away: Psalm 51:3-4.
But what we also seem to forget when we praise God for saving us from sin is where we would be without His forgiveness, wisdom and love to keep us from the terrible effects of sin. Without His Word in our hearts and His Spirit to guide and keep us, our sins would make us care more about us than anyone else in our lives right now—massively changing our relationships, greatly changing our trust, perseverance and sacrifice. How many would not even be together or would be in selfish fits of misery together otherwise, or would be living a totally destructive and addictive lifestyle? Sin taints our view of everything in life when left unchanged and unchecked (the worth of people, the blessing of things, the very joy and excitement of living). Sin causes us to see and feel differently than God about everything in life, therefore making it impossible to see God's will, making it impossible to hear Him or have fellowship because we do not truly want to share in anything important to Him. Sin makes everything that is important to God seem like it's not even worthwhile to us, just like an unsatisfied lover. Without God's plan and power working in us to keep us from sin, all of these things would have full reign in our lives. How would our lives look differently right now?
 
Even those of us passionately seeking God struggle with things luring us towards infidelity. Often, we don't see them, or we think they are okay just because they are not sinful in themselves. But there is a great litmus test to determine if something has become an adulterous affair in your life over God. The greatest test to determine what truly is the desire of your heart is to recognize what affects you the greatest when it is threatened or taken away. (Because that truly defines you). Are you most angry when your position or authority is threatened? Pride has become sin. Are you most upset when your intelligence is questioned or threatened? Your love of intellect has become sin. Are you most angered and turned away when your family is affected? Your family has become sin. Are you most anxious and obsessed when you are away from sex and/or pornography? Sex has become sin. Is your entire world and friend base centered around who agrees with your gender-identity? Your obsession with self has become your sin. Are you constantly obsessed with having another mate in your life when there is none? Affection from others has become sin. Are you frantic when you can't connect with others on social media, or broken when you don't get the responses you desire? Recognition of self has become sin. Are you totally incapacitated when things are not right with your spouse? Your spouse has become sin. Are you overwhelmed when there doesn't seem to be enough money to do everything you want? Money has become sin. Are you crushed beyond recovery personally when you sin, or too embarrassed for anyone to know about your sin? Self-righteousness has become sin. Are you hurt or angry when others seem to be getting praise, or you are not noticed, or they are doing as well as you taking away your praise? Jealousy and pride are your sin. Is there anything in your life that has become the sole focus of your unhappiness because you didn't get it, or you lost it? That has become your sin. These things are sin because they are desired with a passion that is greater than your passion for God. They are your heart's focus, your heartbeat, so to speak. It is adultery.
Some of you may be saying at this point, "I know my sin, but how do I beat it?" Many here probably fight certain sins and have fought them for months or years—and even in your legitimate desire to beat sin, you fail. Here is the simple, unstoppable key to breaking habitual sin: Stop focusing on beating that sin for another moment. Your focus should never be on beating that sin. Because the real problem does not stem from your desire for this sin. The real problem stems from the fact that you do not desire and chase after God more. So how do you beat it? By purposefully chasing after a deeper relationship with your beloved; by purposefully pursuing Him so passionately and developing such an intimacy with Him that you sin-proof your relationship. That you take away your desire for sin by finding such a desire for what you have in Him. Work on drawing close to Him, rather than fighting flesh; discover Him; personally, physically do things for Him by doing for others directly in unison and love for Him. Otherwise, there is absolutely no basis or motivation to really quit anything. It will become just a shallow focus on self and performance, rather than a true shift in passion and desire (when you just say no to sin, it makes you want it more). How do you stop looking at other people until your spouse is really what you want most? When you realize how blessed you are to have someone; when you see that they are the best and they’re yours. It is the greatest motivation of all to never look anywhere else because you never want to lose them. Be that real, that seeking after Jesus: Psalm 119:20; Isaiah 26:9; Psalm 42:2; Song of Songs 7:10. If God wasn't that passionate for our intimacy—if He didn't see sin as that bad, that personally rejecting—why else would He have paid such a crazy high price to forgive and save us? Why not just start over with someone better who would love Him as He desired? He is that lover who will do anything to have us back, forgive anything we've done—but only if He knows we really want Him. Being saved from our sins, forgiven and accepted, is not just about understanding that He really exists—or even about simply asking Him to forgive our sins—it’s about seeing His real passion, sacrifice and deep desire for me; knowing all that He made for me, did for me, sacrificed for me; seeing His faithfulness in not giving up on me even in my rejection of Him. And realizing He alone wants me most. He alone is worthy of my love and devotion; He alone has proven His trustworthiness. It's realizing faith in Him will never let me down or disappoint, but everything else is hollow and hurtful. It's saying I give my all in total desire to be as appealing and acceptable to Him as I can, to put Him first, make Him feel as special as He’s made me feel; to stand for Him no matter where it takes me, or what it costs, simply because He is worthy and wonderful; simply because I want it to be Him and me over all the world—and then accepting the precious Blood of my very own, intimate beloved—who did so much in desire for our relationship so that I can be with Him for all of eternity. That is having faith in God; faith in His passion and trustworthiness not just His existence. We have to see sin for what it is. Not a rule that was broken or a choice to live another way, or a rewarding pursuit of pleasure and joy. But, it is a cheap, adulterous lover trying to steal my affection from my beloved who couldn’t care less for me in the end; who uses me up and leaves me empty and alone; who steals my love from the One who really desires me and Who’s heart is truly breaking. Here is His response when we return to Him: Hosea 2:7; Hosea 3:1.
For the believer who is struggling—stop wasting time focused on the cheap cheater, and just focus on getting so close to your beloved that you don't look sin's way anymore. And if you have never given your heart and trust to Him—never accepted His gift—the gift of His very life, all to have you with Him—what are you waiting for?