I'M A BELIEVER,  WHY DO I KEEP SINNING?

(and why does it make me feel so bad?)

By Jerry Lovell

 

Loving God and obeying God are not synonyms. Loving God and being born again are not synonyms, either. Remember the devil believes and trembles. I believe the issue of people loving God and yet perpetually sinning is a multifaceted problem.

First of all, it could be that though the person is a "mental believer" he/she has never really committed to the Lordship of Jesus. They have mentally decided that Jesus is Lord but they have never accepted Him as THEIR Lord, thus no power to overcome the besetting sin(s) in their life. They feel guilty because while they know what they are doing in their life, and with their life, is sin, there is no power within them to overcome or to stop the sinning.

 

Let me pause here and make a statement about guilt as opposed to conviction. Biblically speaking, guilt always comes from the kingdom of darkness and always beats one down and offers no hope of victory or long term change.

 Conviction, on the other hand, always comes from God (through the Holy Spirit) and shows our failure in comparison to God's plan and purpose for us and then offers hope for victory in Christ Jesus' indwelling power (that same Holy Spirit) - "greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world."

The next facet of failure I see is that when certain believers come to Christ, they don't follow through with disciplined discipleship. In other words, they don't work at surrendering their lives to the full use of the Kingdom of God. They want to ADD Jesus to their lives, but they don't really yield Lordship of their lives to Him. They still want "run the show." That puts their whole life into disorder and rebellion to His perfect will and plan for them. There is no real peace, just "lulls in the storm."

Another facet is the "Perils of Paul" as the Apostle Paul talks about in Romans 7 where he (my paraphrasing) says, "When I want to do good, I do evil. When I do evil, I really am trying to do good. There is a constant warfare in my soul (mind, will and emotions) and it terribly upsets me.

 Where is the solution? What is the solution? Aha, the solution is the knowledge that Jesus Christ is dwelling in me and my sinning is because I let my mind dictate what I do instead of my spirit, which is prompted and guided by the Holy Spirit within me. Sometimes I do in the flesh what I do not want to do in the spirit, so I must continually surrender Lordship (the right to make my own decisions) of my life, over to Jesus Christ. Then He will make the right choices and decisions always." Again, that is my paraphrasing Romans 7, verses 15 through 25 and the beginning of Chapter 8. Read it for yourself - I think you will come to the same understanding.

 I can sum it up this way, it seems the "modern Christian" (whatever that means) wants to add Jesus (read that church attendance, Bible study, religious music and books, prayer meetings, etc.) to their very busy lives and finding no real joy, peace or satisfaction as a result INSTEAD of turning their lives over to Jesus completely.

 Jesus isn't an option we add to our lives like ordering some extra equipment for the new car. Jesus said the He WAS life, not an addition to life.

Many are  under conviction for salvation and  try to find some physical or mental way to make the pain and discomfort go away. They won't find any peace short of total surrender of their life to Jesus Christ. Trying to be religious doesn't satisfy the heart that is yearning to surrender to Jesus Christ.

 I suggest very careful reading and study of Romans 7 and 8 and then letting go of the Lordship of one's life and surrendering it completely to Christ. Some will probably say they have done that, but in truth,  mentally agreed, but never spiritually surrendered. Christ gives the victory as he has fought and won the battle!

Why does it make me feel so bad? Because we really do love God (or the concept of God to be more accurate) and want to do the things that will get Him to approve of us and when we fail, He can't possibly love us and accept us.

Wow, do we ever have a lousy concept of who God really is and what He is truly like!!!!!

If we are taught that God likes apple pies, our entire religious lives will be spent growing apples, gathering apples, preparing apples, and baking apples to make sure our concept of God gets all the apple pies our little fingers can bake for Him. Since we are so busy with apples we never have time to ask Him what He REALLY likes.

All of a sudden we DO find the time to ask Him what He really likes (because we are so tired of apples and all that is associated with them) and He tells us He REALLY likes cherry pies instead! Our entire religious experience up to that time has been a total loss!

 What He really likes is for His children just to love Him and enjoy being in His presence and communing with Him.

If you are not absolutely certain that you have totally surrendered your life to Christ,

 

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