No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.     1 John 3:9 ESV

If you are going to be a Christian, you must give up your sin. Our Scripture passage says no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. There are intentional sins we sometimes tend to hang on to for whatever reason. We feel that we just can’t give them up. James 4:17 says, “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

It’s not so easy to not sin, as a matter of fact, it can be very difficult. We sin because it looks good, tastes good, feels good and may even offer a financial benefit or reward. However, if we indulge in intentional sin long enough it will become bitter, make us miserable and may even destroy us financially.

Paul spoke of his own sinfulness in Romans 7:15 when he said, “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.”  In verse 19, he said, “For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.”

Our flesh is sinful, and it wars against the Spirit. There is a spiritual battle going on inside of us. We want to sin because it produces some result that we like. However, it also produces guilt because we know we shouldn’t be doing it.

Intentional sin is nothing to play with. We are clearly told in Hebrews 10:26 that if we go on sinning after knowing the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins just a terrifying expectation of judgment and a fire about to consume the adversary. We are God’s adversary when we sin.

In Hebrews 10:29 it says, “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace? These are some pretty serious charges, but we are guilty of them if we deliberately sin.

If you are going to be a Christian, you must strive for righteousness. You must repent of your sins and ask God to strengthen you against temptation. It’s hard to let go of some of our sins because we have held on to them for so long, we can’t imagine living without them. I can promise you, however, God will help you. I can promise you it will set you free. And the joy and peace it gives you will far outweigh whatever you gave up.

And God will be right there to strengthen you and to guide you and to bless you. We are told in 1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Being a Christian is hard. It’s not designed for the weak. But you must understand that His power is perfected in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). He will give us the strength we need to do the things He calls us to do (Philippians 4:13).

It’s not always easy to be a Christian, but it’s so worth it. If you are falling short, know we all do (Romans 3:23). We are all works in progress, but we must grow. We must strive to do better in preparation for going home to be with the Lord, where we will finally reach perfection through His awesome grace.

Do the hard work it takes to be one of the few that travel the narrow road and enter through the narrow gate. The reward is so worth it.

Have a great day!