How To Overcome Sin

Sin is a "me-first" self-pleasing attitude of heart which denies God's authority to direct our lives and our world. Sinful actions such as theft, adultery and blasphemy spring from a heart corrupted by the power of sin. There are two root sins - one is pride and the other unbelief. Pride is evidenced by an attitude which is demanding and arrogant, denies its need for God, is unteachable, impatient, overly critical of others and hard hearted. How easy it is for any one of us to be infected with pride without realising it! Unbelief also, is the root of much sin. If we really believed in God's goodness, wisdom and love, what motive would remain for not doing things God's way? These attitudes hurt the heart of God and often cause insensitivity to others as well, resulting in us saying and doing things that were better not said or done.

Sin always takes more than it gives. Whatever you gain by compromise you will eventually lose. Sin is the deadly human condition which opens the door to Satanic oppression and God's displeasure and judgment. Sin definitely creates a barrier to true communication with God. The wages of sin is death. Primarily, this refers to spiritual death. God loves us and wants us to overcome sin. He knows we are powerless to do it by ourselves, and for this reason has given us divine resources in our warfare against evil and sin.

Every attempt to overcome sin by willpower, resolutions and self-discipline alone WILL fail. No attempts to overcome sin by observing laws and rules, however strict, will ever work. But the Bible says, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:17). That means, be governed by impulses coming from the Holy Spirit in your human spirit, and you won't be ruled by the natural thinking and desires that draw people away from holy living.

Romans 6 and Romans 8 are probably the most important passages of Scripture relating to this subject. I'd like to take some verses from them and make some comments.

"Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit" (Romans 8:5). What does your mind dwell on? What do you choose to set it on? To overcome sin you must have a deliberate policy to set your mind on the "Things of the Spirit". If that is not your policy, make it so today. The things of the Spirit include the presence of God, the love of God, the fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit (which involve supernatural communication with God), the Word of God and their application to life. The things of the flesh which we are not to set our mind on include any kind of lust, selfish ambition, greed, envy, jealousy, hatred, bitterness or prideful thought. We can't avoid these tho

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