Stop Trying to Get Sin Out of Your Life

I feel like there's a pretty big mistake that I've been making for years and I've seen a lot of fellow brothers and sisters making the same mistake. That mistake is to try to get sin out of my life. I remember I was going downtown Saturday night and before I left, because there tends to be a few temptations when I go downtown, be it having a drink too many or letting my eyes wander to the girls all around me, I prayed for God to help me not sin that night.

I then felt the Lord give me a very clear realization about that prayer. Was that really my goal for the night? Was my only concern to just not do anything wrong? The Lord didn't put me on this earth to just "not sin". I'm here to bring Him glory. So my prayer changed from "help me to not sin" to "help me to see the opportunities to glorify You." This small shift will change everything! I guess that means it's not a small shift after all, but regardless, it's a necessary shift.

The problem with focusing on getting sin out of my life is that whether I'm actually sinning or just trying to stop sinning, my focus is still on sin! Here's how it usually goes for me: I pinpoint what I need to stop or start doing, I go a little while without messing up, I let my guard down with a good pat on the back, I slip up, I feel guilty, I feel even guiltier so that I think I can't approach the Lord, I stop doing it until I feel like I can approach the Lord again, repeat.

This concentration not only leads to constant failure, but it leads to me feeling like I'm not good enough for Jesus and bypasses everything having to do with grace so that it becomes about what I can and can't do.

When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus' response was not any of the "thou shalt nots" but it was to love God. So my goal as a Christ follower should not be to stop sinning, but rather to love God with all of my heart. And Matthew 6:33 tells me that when I do this, other things just kind of fall into place. When I love God, the effect is that I sin less in the same way that when I love a friend I don't do things that hurt them, but instead do things to let them know that I love them.