Can I Be A Christian and Still Struggle With Sinful Habits?
Can someone be a Christian and still struggle with sinful habits?
“Phil, I really desire to follow God and obey His Word, and I have confessed my sins and sought a daily walk with God, but I still struggle intensely with sinful habits that I know are not pleasing to God. I often wonder if I have made a real commitment to Christ. I just don’t see how a real follower of Christ could have such a struggle with sin?”
I have lengthy late night conversations with students who have been plagued by this very question for their own life. What does God’s Word have to say about this?
We have all heard or read the passages that indicate “If any one be in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come!” (II Cor. 5:17) And we have read the passage in Romans 6:1-4 which reads,
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. “ Romans 6:1-4 (NIV)
There is also the passage in I John that reads, “no one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:9 (NIV) These passages all indicate that when people really trust Christ, they will find deliverance from sinful habits. They will not continue to sin, they will live totally new lives because of the power of God living in them.
This seems to be the teaching of the New Testament. But what do we do with the passages in the Old Testament and the New Testament that say something very different. Consider the following:
For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
but the wicked are brought down by calamity. Prov 24:16 (NIV)
We all stumble in many ways James 3:2 (NIV)
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16 (NIV)
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1 John 1:8-10 (NIV)
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Romans 7:15-19 (NIV)
Now remember the Bible is the revealed Word of God without any error in its teaching. Our task now is to see how the Word of God brings these seemingly opposing viewpoints to agreement.
When a person trusts Christ, we have already seen that he has a new nature placed within him (II Cor.5:17), he has a new desire for the things of God (Romans 7:22), and he is fully forgiven of all his sins (Romans 5:1-2) . We also see that whenever a person trusts in Christ alone for his salvation he has been declared fully justified forever (Hebrews 10:12-19) and his standing before God is as secure as long as God is God (John 10:28-30; Romans 8:35-39).
So how exactly do we reconcile these passages? I want you to notice that John says that if we say we have not sinned we are liars, and in the very same book he says anyone born of God does not continue to sin. James indicates that Christians will continue to sin in this world when he writes and commands them to “confess their faults to one another and pray for another that they may be healed.”
I believe the key is found in Paul’s writing in Romans 7:15-25. Paul writes this passage several years after his conversion to Christ. In this passage he says he still struggles intensely with sinful habits. In fact he calls them evil habits. The language that he uses almost sounds as if he is in bondage to such habits. He indicates that he has tried a lot of different things to break the bondage but it seems nothing has worked, which lead him to the conclusion that he is a wretched man indeed!
Paul paints the graphic picture of a terrible hostile inner war between doing the good that he knows he should and doing evil that he knows he shouldn’t. At this point he says that it seems the evil wins out every time. What are people to do who think they have trusted Christ? Should they submit to even more discipline to keep their bodies in check? Should they re-examine their own decisions to see if they really did trust Christ? Maybe they really did not mean it when they prayed years ago? Maybe they were not one of the chosen so they must abandon all hope of being redeemed because they just cannot seem to break this sinful habit even though they long to do so? After all no one else they know of has such struggles with sin.
What do we do with all of this sinful stuff in our lives? I think there is great news for all of us who have struggled intensely with sin since we gave our lives to Christ, and it is precisely this. The Christian life is not you attempting to live it. The Christian life is a life that is absolutely impossible for you or anyone else to live. The Christian life is Jesus living in you alone.
The Colossian church had some false teachers enter their church and teach that if they really wanted to be spiritual they should abstain from certain foods, observe certain holy days, fast at certain times, participate in certain religious duties and then they would be real. But Paul writes in response to that when he says
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Col 2:20-23 (NIV)
Our relationship with Christ is not a relationship of duty but of love. But how is it that our love for Christ grows? I think it is precisely on this point that it does. When we see how desperately wicked we are and discover that all our attempts even as a believer are completely powerless to rescue us, we will have only one option and that is to cling ever tighter to Jesus and his full redemption that he offers from the cross.
Listen to Paul’s word again,
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col 3:1-4 (NIV)
Notice the focus is now not on our selves but on Christ who is our life. When we see what Jesus has done for us and how complete is our redemption, we will explode in worship of the great God who should have condemned and even now should still condemn us but because of his great love for us he will not. So we echo with the apostle Paul, What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24-25 (NIV)
As the great hymn writer expressed, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground in sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
Small Group Discussion Questions:
How do you respond when you hear that Jesus has fully purchased your salvation? There is nothing for you to do but focus your attention on Jesus and his fully sufficient work on the Cross.
What behaviors would characterize a person who was in love with someone else?
Does your life demonstrate your love for Christ? What should you do about that right now?
Why not set a time when your group can watch the Passion of The Christ with this in view, ”How much did Jesus suffer for me?