We want to know how to stop sinning in our pursuit of intentional spiritual growth; here is a simple mind trick that can help...
Sanctification is simply the process of becoming more righteous over time. So, overall, we should be sinning less and less frequently the longer we live.
However, because of our sinful human nature, we are still bound to let ourselves and others down with repeated sin. It is easy to get discouraged on this journey of sanctification which we often think of as a destination.
With our very best intentions, we want to know how to stop sinning.
So what do we have to break the cycle of sin? I want to share a helpful revelation that I hope can be another arrow in your quiver in fighting your own sin.
Our (Unhelpful) Bad Habits
As Christians, we can get very focused on Jesus as our model for how we interact with the world -- it is an awesome focus, no doubt. However, with His perfect example, it doesn’t take much to start feeling like we don’t measure up.
Indeed, one of the central tenets of Christianity is that we could never be as perfect as Christ. Of course, that fact emphasizes the utter significance of His gift to us by taking the wrath of God on our behalf through His death on the cross. .
His sacrifice has freed us to live without the guilt of our sin. Now that sounds like we can sin rampantly, but that approach misses something significant -- our core desire should be to become sinless in gratitude to God for the sacrificial gift of His Son.
But if you’re anything like me, you forget all this in moments of repeated sin. Instead, it feels awful inside. You start rehearsing why you sinned. You start thinking about where the blame lies for your repeated sin. You start created lots of ”if… then…” scenarios. You may even start thinking about strategies to avoid that sin in the future.
At the heart of all of these events is a lot of THINKING about your sinful behavior… and that may be the problem...
An Much More Effective Alternative
I am excited to share a recent revelation I received in how to approach repeated sinful behavior.
Instead of fixing our minds on our sinful behavior, fix our minds on God’s ways.
Allow me to explain…
The famous book (and movie) called ”The Secret” talk about the ”Law of Attraction. As that series points out, this is an ancient concept.
But guess what? The Bible educated us on the importance of this principle thousands of years ago. In fact, Philippians 4:8 reminds us of this:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things
Once again, the wisdom in the Bible is showing us a clear tactic for success on our Christian walk of sanctification. Specifically, by focusing our minds on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy - in other words, what is GOOD, we can literally crowd out sinful thoughts.
I have recently started to do this in a simple way. I literally picture Jesus near me as often as possible.
I have noticed that in the moments my mind is fixed on Him, I interact with the world in MUCH different ways. For example, instead of being filled with jealousy or lust for the things of the world I see around me, I find myself praising God for the beauty of His creations. Instead of being quick to anger when my son is disobedient, I am filled with patience and thinking more about how I can guide him towards an obedient heart.
Conclusion
We have recognized our tendencies to be hard on ourselves about repetitive sinful behavior. We have noticed that despite our resolve to “do better,” we are easily moved in the direction of sin. Perhaps that is because our remedies for sinful behavior are focused on sin itself.
As an alternative, we looked at a completely different approach found in the Bible. This approach has the potential to be much more effective in truly conquering repetitive sin. Today, you can resolve instead to start focusing your mind on what is GOOD. In doing so, you can literally crowd out thoughts about sin even as you fill your mind with goodness.
I’d love to hear about your own success with this method. Please share your experiences in the comments section below.
