Living In Sin vs Being a Sinning Christian

To start this post a need to make something very clear: Christians still sin

When you become a Christian, you are still imperfect, still a sinner, still guilty of going against God's laws and still worthy of punishment and unworthy of grace.

BUT because you acknowledge your sin, realise that it is bad and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you receive his forgiveness even though you are unworthy. At that point, you still deserve to be sent to Hell, but you have accepted Jesus paying that price for you and thus you will not go to Hell.

Still with me so far?

This doesn't mean however that Christians can sin as much as they like because they'll still be saved. This is wrong and means you're living in sin. Christians still sin but they do not live in sin and there's a difference.

If you sin against God knowing it's wrong and doing it anyway (we all know what is right and wrong in God's eyes because he has given us a conscience) or pretending it's not wrong and doing it. You're living in sin. When you do these wrong things, maybe it's stealing, maybe it's lusting, maybe it's having sex outside of marriage, maybe it's getting drunk, you deny God and choose your own selfish desires instead of doing what He asks.

At this point you are delighting in your sin. You are not trying very hard not to do these things and slipping up every now and again. You are fully getting involved in sin, without trying to stop yourself, without feeling bad about it, without regret, but instead with actively enjoyment in the sin(s).

Christians however, do not live this way. Christians (and if they are living in sin, it shows that they are false converts and only fooling themselves) acknowledge that sin is sin. This means they don't fool themselves into pretending something is right. They know what is right and wrong and acknowledge which action goes in which category. In light of knowing what's a sin, they do everything they can not to do these things.

Because we are all born with sinful natures, we are all imperfect creatures, which means we will inevitably sin our entire lives. This won't stop. But Christians make a conscious effort to stop as much as they can. The new desires God gives us mean we no longer want to live in sin when we're Christians (Ezekiel 11:19). Then, when Christians do slip up they repent - genuinely.

Genuine repentence involves 6 steps:
1. Recognition of your sin - you know that what you did is wrong
2. Sorrow - you feel sad that you committed a sin
3. Shame - you are embarrassed that you committed a sin
4. Confession - you admit to God that you committed a sin
5. Abandoning sin - you give up that behavior and turn from it
6. Hatred of sin - you hate the sin that you've committed

And there you have a key difference between being a sinning Christian, who is saved, and being a fake Christian or non-Christian who chooses to live in sin.

For more on this topic from the Bible, please read Romans 6:12-23

If you're a Christian and you're reading this and really struggling with a sin right now, I recommend you read this verse: Romans 7:14-25

"What are you giving up for Lent?"

I've been asked this question a few times and the simple answer is "nothing". In this post I'll explain why.

We are supposed to have a relationship with Jesus every day. Our aim is to follow his example, turn from our sins, show his example in our lives and repent every day. Not just on Sundays, not just at Christmas, not just during Lent.

There is no reason to give anything up during Lent or start anything new. God doesn't want you to be able to go 40 days without coffee or without shopping or whatever, because this isn't an achievement that helps others or you grow in Christ. Unless these activities are where your time and effort goes instead of praising, worshipping and following God, you don't gain anything or benefit in any religious way from giving them up. It would be for your own reasons and not for God.

So if there's something that drains your time away from the Lord, by all means, surrender it or at least cut down on it. But again, that should be the case every day. You are fooling yourself if you think you only need to do it for Lent. If you're still sinning without repenting, but now during Lent you're doing that without drinking coffee... you're still sinning! See what I mean? That's the real and bigger issue at stake. That's what we should be addressing.

You are not any more a Christian if you give things up during Lent or any less a Christian if you don't. Our aim of discipline is to listen, obey and follow God's Word, God's plan and God's direction. Religious discipline is not about how long we can abstain from something we love to do or how long we can force ourselves to start doing something that we really don't want to do.

So, evaluate just what you're giving up and why during Lent

Happy Valentine's Day

We are all desperate to be loved and to love.

We innately search for significance and are created with the powerful need to belong. We seek acceptance from people and groups. We pursue worth in worthless places, taking our self-worth from other people. We establish our own value and worth based on how much our friends like us, how much our boyfriend/girlfriend likes us, how highly our parents regard us. We demand validation from invalid sources, thinking our worth is based on the things we do, the things we own or the amount of money we make.

But all those things are irrelevant. Our worth, our significance, our value comes from God and His love for us. That's all that matters. We can see God’s stubborn love and the absolute sacrifice He made for us when He gave up His son, Jesus Christ. It is only through a personal relationship with Him that we experience authentic love: a love that displaces thoughts of rejection and banishes feelings of abandonment. God loves you for who and what you are. God loves unconditionally, without taking into account anything else, that will never change for any reason.

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16

And if you ever feel that you aren't good enough, aren't wanted by anyone, or that you don't fit in, it is in this priceless gift of God's love that we comprehend the amazing truth - that even if we were never wanted or planned by a human heart and mind, we were always planned and wanted in the heart and mind of God!

The Lord gave me this message: "I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations" - Jeremiah 1:4-5

So on Valentine's Day, remember the one who loves you more than anyone else and how He will never leave you. If you have yet to accept God's love pouring over you, why don't you consider doing so today?