Struggles.
March 24th, 2008
If you’re not struggling with sin, you’re probably not much of a Christian.
This statement popped in my head a couple weeks ago and I’ve been thinking about ever since. I have no idea where this quote came from or even if I thought it up myself, I can’t remember. When I first heard it, I immediately disagreed and began trying to disprove it because it didn’t make me feel good. It was, however, intriguing enough that I thought about it and considered what truth there might be to the statement. After thinking about it, I completely agree. This is a very true statement. Let me explain:
All have sinned, right? That means we all have a sinful nature. Those who have accepted Jesus also have a Godly nature. Paul talks about this battle of two natures in Romans 7:14-20. So considering this conflict of man, having sin in our lives is a given (unless certain parts of the Bible don’t apply to you 
). So if you’re not struggling with sin, then you’re just living with it — you’re not much of a Christian. …ouch.
So, it’s good for Christians to be struggling with sin. Is it messy? Oh yes, its very messy. But messes aren’t bad – its sort of like poop.
Now this got me really thinking. Have you ever been in a church when there is an altar call for people who want to re-dedicate their lives to Christ? I’ve often seen very few people respond to these. I think a lot of people are thinking, “Oh, that’s not for me – I’m not that bad.” Or maybe a huge hunk of people are thinking, “Nope. I’m not struggling with a sin right now.” Well . . . they should read this blog post, I guess.
I’m not trying to change altar calls nor am I saying they’re bad — those altar calls for re-dedications often are targeted towards those who have been running away from God. But if healthy Christians are supposed to be struggling with sin, shouldn’t each of us respond to our own daily re-dedication altar calls in our hearts?
Reader, can I challenge you? Is your sin a struggle or merely an annoyance to you? Do you even recognize your sin or have you been like those in the Laodician church and ignore its existence entirely? I’m not necessarily asking you to respond to these questions in the comments below, but I do ask that you respond to these questions in prayer. Think about it.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Great post…goes along with something I’ve been thinking about. There are sins I haven’t committed recently but have been TEMPTED to do, and with God’s help so far I have not done it but I am very tempted. ALOT. So I started thinking after reading this, if you aren’t struggling with sin, and you’re not even tempted, you’re probably not much of a Christian either, right? Why does Satan even need to mess with you if you aren’t a threat to him? Doesn’t he increase temptation (roaming around trying to devour us) the closer we are trying to walk with Jesus? This gives me greater desire to do as you said here, rededicate every day and press on!
March 25th, 2008 at 3:05 am
Exactly, Tara! Temptation is a part of the sin-struggle. For many – its the BIGGEST part of the sin-struggle.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:17 am
More than that…
James says something to the effect of, “No one should say ‘God is tempting me’ for God does not tempt. But each one is tempted by his own evil desires.”
So if we’re tempted by our own evil desires that means we’re tempted because of our human nature. That’s our human nature attacking our Godly nature – hence the conflict of 2 natures. Temptation IS the struggle.
Another thing – and this is just to expound on what Tara said… “struggle” should not always mean “fail.” Our aim can not be to stop struggling with sin, THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE – our aim is to struggle, and win. Then we become one of “those who overcome” described in Revelation
Jesus even struggled with Sin, he was tempted by Satan! it must have been a difficult struggle because afterwards the angels came and comforted him. But Jesus Christ struggled with Sin, and won!
March 25th, 2008 at 3:19 am
I completely agree with this on every level. Temptations to sin is a HUGE struggle in my spiritual walk. To be honest, I used to get really down and think that if I was a stronger Christian, these temptations wouldn’t be here or wouldn’t have quite the blow they do. This really helps, especially with what Tara said, in explaining the temptations. Before I came to truly know Christ, these temptations were there but rarely bothered me. After I came to Him, they became far more intense and far more frequent. The explanation is simple! When I knew about God but didn’t actively chase Him, Satan didn’t care about what happened to me now because he already knew where I was headed. Once I came to Christ, that whole scene changed and now Satan is working harder and harder (thus more and more temptations) to get me to turn back. This has been a very educational and enlightening post. Way past cool, man!
March 25th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Lee-
Man do I know about self-condemnation, which is what you are talking about when you describe getting down on yourself about having temptation. We do it for sins (and temptations to sin) of today, yesterday, and even 10 or 20 years ago and we just don’t have to do that! There is NOW no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and if Jesus doesn’t condemn me what am I doing if for??!! But it’s real, it is a part of our sin nature that Satan taps into, he tells you that you are failing at being a Christian and you should just give up. The great news is, we don’t have to fight that battle on our own! Put on the full armor of God (whenever you get down it’s great to read Ephesians 6:10-18, it really makes me feel like I’m a warrior that God has truly equipped for whatever situation I get into) and know that HE KNOWS your struggles and loves you and has a plan to see you through! Aren’t you glad we can learn this now and see that being an overcomer is possible! I related to what you said and thank you for having the courage to be vulnerable with your struggle in your comment. I think this is what we are supposed to be doing for each other in the body, not acting like we have it all together, but admitting how hard it is, how much we struggle, so that we can encourage each other!!!