Memo Blog

8/24/24
Saturday 9:00pm

Date Posted: 8/24/24

Kinda pondering, but in the battle to stay away from sin I have learned a few things during my lifetime.

Sin is always with us in this life; at least while we are still alive.

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 8:13

To be free of sin forever one must be a born again Christian. To be a born again Christian one must receive Christ as Lord and Savior. A Christian desires to be free of sin. Removing sin is a process.

43 "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation."

Matthew 12:43-45

This means that to put sin to death you must also replace it with something good.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

John 15:1-6

This means that in order to remove sin, we need to replace it with meditations on God. We can meditate on worry or lust or envy, etc., but we must instead meditate on the good things of God such as prayer, Bible reading, maybe a good Christian book or helping a neighbor. The things I just mentioned have varying degrees of effectiveness. Prayer is number 1, meditation on God's word is number 2. There is a time and place for all of these things and it takes wisdom to know what method to use and when.

To stay strong in the fight against sin you must abide in Christ. If, as a Christian, you drift away from Christ, you will become rapidly and increasingly weak to the pull of sin. Now, if you abide in Christ you will grow stronger and stronger. If you are away too long you may well reach a point where you will be unable AND unwilling to return. This alone should scare you away from the pull of sin.

When a person continually abides in Christ, they will love Jesus and God more and more and it will spur them to love others more and more with a great love for others and a desire to bring them to a Saving Faith in Christ. See What is Saving Faith? by John Piper