When I Struggle With Sin...

... I feel like a hypocrite.

Every week, I speak no fewer than five times about the Lord. There's my Sunday School class, the Sunday morning sermon at Grace Pointe, two small group Bible studies, and a radio show. Then, every other Sunday, I preach at the Market Place apartments.

Each sermon includes warnings against sin, encouragement to have faith in the Lord, exhortation to center one's life around the Lord, and a commission to serve the Lord. I am sincere in my belief of these things. I honestly believe that God blesses those who live their lives for Him. But preaching the Word, and practicing what I preach are two completely different things.

Monday rolls around, and I tend to fall back into the same routines as everyone else. My life becomes about making a living, paying bills, and being frustrated that my wildest dreams have yet to come true. When your focus drifts from the Lord and into the day-to-day routine, you lose that Spiritual connection to the Lord, and He begins to seem distant. When this happens, we become susceptible to temptation. Such is the case with me.

I'm not going into a confessional here, but there are times that I misrepresent Christ. There are times that I fall short of the Biblical mandate to let my light shine. There are times that I betray my faith, and my Lord. And when my eyes are opened to my fall, I begin to wonder if all this is a facade, and if I am really a rotten human being. You may have experienced the same.

How can we reconcile our salvation and our lives in Christ with the sin that "so easily besets us?" (Hebrews 12:1).

We begin by recognizing that we are not alone in this struggle. Romans 3:23 says "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." We are all sinners, we all fall short. We all fail. Romans 3:9 says we are all under sin.

Scripture also lists examples of the great heroes of the faith who fell short of God's glory. From the depiction of David's adultery with Bathsheba, to the acknowledgement in James 5:17 that "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are." Yet, David and Elijah did great things for the Lord. Romans 7:15-17 describes the same struggle that the Apostle Paul had.

The lesson we take here is that our struggle neither defines us, nor limits us.

We continue by recognizing what this struggle reveals in us. There are times that you overcome, and there are times that you fail. Through each time of temptation, you learn more about your Spiritual maturity, and where you stand with the Lord. However, failure is not as devastating as you think.

Romans 7:15-17 says:

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.  17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul confessed that he knew what he should be doing, and what he shouldn't be doing. He then confessed that he found himself doing the things he shouldn't (For that which I do I allow not.) He found himself doing the very things he preached against. He also confessed that he found himself not doing the things he should. (For what I would, that do I not).

Despite the disconnect between what he believed and what he preached, and what he actually did, Paul steered the conversation back to God's word. He didn't justify what he did. Rather, he promoted God's law, and declared its truth despite his failure. (I consent unto the law that it is good.)

So, if Paul knew God's law, agreed with God's law, and promoted God's law, why was he sinning? Simple. Paul understood that he was still infected with the sin nature. (Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.) This is not an excuse. He's not saying that he can continue in sin, as it's just in his nature. He is merely explaining his failure.

When we struggle with sin, we are reminded that we still have the sin nature. It's the flesh within us that desires sin, that desires the things that are forbidden. It's the same nature that wants to abdicate personal responsibility and live for the pleasure of the moment.

When we recognize the role that the sin nature plays in our struggle, we are able to move away from the notion that somehow we are just flawed, and not as good as everyone else, and we see our struggle as part of the human experience. When we understand this is a struggle everyone faces, this helps us see the struggle that others endure, and it helps us to be graceful to others when they sin.

The other thing that recognizing the role of the sin nature accomplishes is that it reminds us that conquering sin is not something we can do on our own. We need the Lord. Which brings us to our next point.

We return to our roots of faith in Christ.  In Romans 7:24-25, Paul exclaimed, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

In verse 24, Paul declares his inability to overcome sin, and turns to the Lord for deliverance. In verse 25, Paul trusts the Lord for that deliverance.

If you know Jesus Christ as your savior, there was a time that you surrendered, and called out to Him for salvation. At that point, you were exactly where Christ wanted you. In the days and weeks that followed, the Lord was able to lead you through a time of exponential Spiritual growth because you had total faith in Him. But, as time moves along, we drift away, and we wind up in the boat we're in today.

When you struggle with sin, and you recognize that it's part of life, and that you cannot overcome it yourself, the proper course of action is to surrender, ask God for deliverance, and trust the Lord to deliver you from that struggle. When you reach that point of surrender and faith, you are right where Christ wants you. When you reach that point of surrender and faith, God is then able to do great things in your life.

When I struggle with sin, I feel like a hypocrite, but I am not. I am a child of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, who has not finished his race here on earth. I remember that I stand on the shoulders of giants, that others have faced these same struggles, and that the struggle with sin comes as a result of my sin nature.

The only answer is to ask God for forgiveness, and trust Him to deliver me from these temptations. When I reach that point, God brings a revival in my life. He will yours as well. Keep the faith, God is on your side.

In Times of Tragedy

Anytime a tragedy occurs, ranging from personal tragedies to national tragedies, the question will arise, "Why did God let this happen?"

This is not a bad question. It's natural to wonder why the Creator of the universe who holds us in our hands would allow something so terrible to come into our lives. This is a question, I will admit, that I cannot answer. I do believe God has a reason, but any attempt to explain the reason does both a disservice to God, and to the one who is suffering. So, with that in mind, I can only offer the following...

In times of tragedy, we need to have faith in the place, in the plan, and most of all, in the Man.

We need to have faith in the place. In John 14, Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." The fact is that God has prepared a place for us in His Kingdom where we will live forever, in His presence, without pain, without suffering, and without so much as the fear of pain and suffering. It will be a place of eternal peace and prosperity, where we can walk with our Lord, and be reunited with loved ones.

1 Timothy 4:17 tells us that "We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." The "them" with whom we get caught up together are those who have passed on before us, and we will all be with the Lord forever. Better days are ahead.

We need to have faith in the plan. Often during times of tragedy and hardship, someone will quote Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." These words can ring hollow without eternity in mind. After all, none of us want a bigger house, car, better job, or more luxuries. We want back what the tragedy took from us, whether it's our ability to walk, or the close presence of a loved one.

All things work together for our good because all things are working together to bring about God's plan. God's plan is our reunion with Him in His Kingdom. God is working His plan to get us all into His Kingdom together. Anything that comes into our lives comes for that purpose. Anytime tragedy enters our lives, we need to remember that God is still on His throne, and God is still bringing us into His Kingdom.

I cannot explain how or why, but I can affirm that God's plan is perfect, and is designed to bring us to that place of eternal blessing. We don't have to understand it, and we are not prohibited from grief. All God asks of us is that we trust Him through the process. As one of my church members often sings, "The God of the mountain, is the God of the valley. The God of the day, is still God in the night. The God of the good times, is still God in the hard times, the God of the day, is still God in the night."

We need to have faith in the Man. The man is Jesus Christ. John 3:16 tells us that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The way to access God's Kingdom and plan is by faith in Jesus Christ. He died on the cross, removing the stain of sin, so that we can enter His Kingdom, if we know Him as Savior.

Furthermore, having trusted the Lord to save us based on His death, burial and resurrection, we can trust that the Lord, who now lives and sits at the right hand of the throne of God, pleads on our behalf daily before God the Father. Hebrews 7:25 says Jesus "is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Christ is your advocate before God, and you have no greater advocate than Jesus Christ.

Because of Jesus, we can trust that God hears our prayers, and that He takes our situations into consideration as He executes His plan. We are not just pawns on His chess board.

On top of that, we can trust Jesus to be more than fair to us and our loved ones. The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to the knowledge of the truth. This means that the Lord pulls out all the stops when it comes to reaching folks with the Gospel. Furthermore, when it comes to our loved ones who have passed on before us, the Bible says "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." It's precious, because it represents the physical reunion of God with His people. He gets to bring us back into His presence.

In all things, God is good. Things are not always good, but God is always good. God is good all the time, and in all times God is good.

If you are suffering right now, these words may seem hollow. That's okay. Grief was never banned in scripture, in fact, it was encouraged, as the Old Testament saints took 10 full days to grieve (that's 10 days where they did nothing but grieve, no work, no commitments, just mourning.)

My only hope is that as that dark cloud passes, you can be brought back into God's presence by remembering to trust in His place, His plan, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. May God bless you in all things.

You Can't Serve God and Money

I don't know what it is... maybe it's my upbringing, maybe I've tasted the bitter fruit of failure, maybe I have an ego problem, but I can't stand to do anything half-hearted. Whatever I do, I feel like I have to be among the best at it. I have to always give it my best effort, or don't even bother.

This holds true with my radio stations, and my ministry. What I find, however, is that I am unable to program a top-notch, top-billing station AND give a first-class effort in ministering to our developing church. I am finding myself at odds with myself. Do I spend the extra effort building the station, or the church? (I know the Lord builds the church, but people still labor). While the answer may appear simple, when one realizes that their profession is the one that pays the bills, he is more inclined to spend some more time on that.

So I am coming to the conclusion that I can not build a top-rated radio station and at the same time, be a super-missionary. So, I have to make a decision... I can quit radio and go full-time ministry and suffer the financial consequences, I can keep the job but do a less-than-stellar performance at it, or I can continue my struggle. Giving God less than my best is not an option.

Do you ever struggle like this?