Obtaining Victory Over Sin - NetBibleStudy.com

Victory Over Sin 34few unnecessary pounds she felt guilty. Her response to this uncomfortable emotionwas to promise herself that she would stick to her diet. Never would she overeat again –-- never! But she was disgusted with herself when she did not keep her promise. Guiltdrove her to more promises, and her self-condemnation increased. At last, she just gaveup!Isn’t the reality of many situations that we promise our self – (“vow” may be abetter word) – that we would never say “yes” to some particular temptation, only tofind that the next time we face it, we give in once more? What is even more shocking isthat we say “yes” to this temptation even when we felt like saying “no!”What we must do is to give up making promises,realizing that we will never keep them anyway.Human nature makes promises to reform –- that, invariable, turn out, not onlyworthless, but even detrimental in bringing about any change in our behavior. Onereason is because we are depending on our own strength to change. Even when we askGod to help us keep that promise, we have as yet not grasped the extent of ourweakness. Also, such resolutions divert our attention to the wrong focus. We spendtime looking within ourselves wondering (usually doubting) whether we really havethe inner resources to remain firm. All the while we’re looking in the wrong direction.Let’s assume that we’ve confessed our sin to God; we’ve repented, admittingthat all sin is rebellion against Him. What should we do then? We must choose to focusour attention on God’s promises. Tell the Lord we are through with our promises, andare now depending on His promises. We are tired of the guilt-sin-guilt cycle. We finallyadmit that God alone “…is able to keep us from stumbling, and to make us stand in thepresence of His glory blameless with great joy” (Jude 1:24). If we make a promise, let it be apromise to meditate on God’s Word.Now our attention will no longer be occupied with the question of whether wehave the willpower to say “no” to that particular temptation: our thoughts will be on theScriptures. This in itself will be a help since we tend to do the activities we think aboutthe most --- that’s why we do so many things we plan to resist! But when we are freefrom the pressure of wondering whether we can hold out, our minds are able to soakup the Scriptures and focus on Christ.Also, we’ll discover that the Holy Spirit will give us the ability to say “no” whenthe temptation comes. In that way we are learning to depend on the Holy Spirit to freeus from the compulsion to repeat our sinful behavior.This action of turning everything over the God is not a “once-for-all-time”decision, but rather, a beginning -- a definite initial, starting point! --- It means that wehave finally come to the end of our personal resolutions and, now, throw ourselveshelplessly before a merciful God. This is the beginning --- not the end!