As it says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. “ We all have sinned, are sinning, and will continue to sin. Paul laments in Romans 7:15 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”. I find myself thinking those same thoughts everyday.
I am convinced that no one is perfect, and we all have our frailties and shortcomings. I myself hate being around the “holier than thou” crowd. They pretend that they are righteous and always without sin. That is just not true. 1 John 1:8 tells us “if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
Why do we sin when we don’t want to and know that we shouldn’t. The answer is obvious. It is our very nature to be sinful. To combat that, we must always work to grow beyond our sinful nature. I know I struggle with that everyday, and you probably do as well. Here are a few ideas that help me, and might help you as well.
One way to that is constant, fervent prayer. Always turn to God and ask Him for his forgiveness, and for His help. I use the acronym ACTS to guide my prayer life. First, I Acknowledge that God is all knowing and all-powerful. C in the acrynonm stands for confession. I turn to God and tell Him (even though He already knows) of all the times I have fallen short of His Glory. T is for Thanksgiving. We all have so very much to be thankful for. Daily, I thank God for all the blessings He has sent my way. And then there is the S for supplications. I ask God to forgive me for my sins and to please remove me from any and all temptations.
Another way to grow beyond one’s sinful nature is to remove all temptations. Get rid of anything that would allow you to sin. Don’t even make it an option. That would include too much idle time on your hands. An idle mind is the devil’s playground. Keep working on doing good as it says in Galatians 6:9 “let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Let’s all admit that we are not nearly as close to God was we would like to be, and that we fall short of the mark daily. Don’t allow that to get you discouraged however. Grow beyond your sinful nature everyday. Be the best you can be. And, as it says in Matthew 5:16 “In the same way let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”