Sin Obsession

This question has been lingering on my mind. Why is it sometimes we get so obsessed with our sins? The ones we are either committing or not committing? Is our sin greater than our God?

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I'm Alexa Loren and welcome to my podcast, Heart of a Seeker. Today's episode is called Sin Obsession. It was driven by the fact that I feel like sometimes we become so obsessed with the sins we're either committing or not committing. So many times I know that I personally almost like pride myself in the sins that I've overcome, right? And I really began to realize how confused I was and how even though I may think I'm winning in some areas, I'm losing in others. So before we get in further into today's episode, I want to go ahead and open up in prayer. Father God, thank you for today. Thank you for your kindness, your mercy, and love. Thank you that you sent your son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we could have freedom in him. I pray that you would use my voice to be able to encourage others and that the seed would be planted on good soil and take good fruit, create good fruit in their lives. Lord, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. So today I'm gonna focus a little more on teaching and really diving into a couple of passages that really spoke to me and kind of dissecting them a little bit further. I want to start with 1 John 3, 410. And it says, Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawless. You know that he, Jesus, appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. So before I go a little further into this, I do want to kind of point out a few things that spoke to me just in this passage. One of the first things that really stuck out to me was the word practice. It says, Everyone who makes practice of sinning also practices lawless lawlessness. So when I looked up what practice meant as a verb, it says to perform an action or exercise a skill repetitively or regularly in order to improve or maintain one's proficiency. And that really began to make me think of this in a whole other way. Was what is it that we are practicing? What is it that we are focusing on? And as I continued to read that passage, it says that Jesus appeared in order to take away sin, but this was the important part. It says, and in him, so in Christ, there is no sin. So Christ was sinless. So then it goes on to say, no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. So then it made me question Am I being sin focused or Christ focused? Am I so focused on those sins that I'm not committing or committing? Or am I focusing on Christ and seeking him, abiding in him, and allowing him to work through me and in my spirit and in my heart? I'm gonna keep on reading. It then continues to say in that passage No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Meaning, as we begin to know who Jesus is, who God is, as we begin to abide in him and seek his face, then there's no way that we aren't transformed in the presence of God. Next it says, Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, and he is righteous, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God sorry, for God's seed abides in him, and it cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. So I'm going to stop there before I finish this passage. So again, you'll see several times it says the word practice. What are we trying to get good at? What are we consciously making a choice to do? And I like how it says that do not be deceived, that whoever practices righteousness is righteous, meaning as we seek God and abide in him, we begin to be transformed, not in our own strength, but in the strength of Jesus Christ and in his power. And then it goes on and says that those that keep on sinning and make it a practice, meaning that you're continually, purposely choosing to do something. And it says that's of the devil, because it's of it's evil. But the other thing I kind of want to point out here is again, it goes down to what we're practicing. So if we practice seeking God and being in his presence, again, he transforms us through his power. And we begin to find that peace that surpasses all understanding, that our desire to practice our old ways or to do the old things begin to change because our focus is now on Christ and not the sins that we've committed or not committed. And I've said this in some of the podcasts in the past, but there's a scripture in Romans that says that we all fall short of the glory of God, meaning we're all going to fall short. And I think sometimes it's so easy to focus on certain items, you know, certain things that maybe we're not doing, like, you know, oh, I'm not having sex, but yet how are you treating people? Are you gossiping about them? Because that's a sin too. Are you cussing at people? That's a sin too. Or, oh, I don't cuss, but yet you're sleeping around. I'm not here to judge anyone. I'm just saying that sometimes I've been guilty of this that I feel like I'm winning in an area. In reality, I'm sinning in another one. So instead of me focusing so much on the areas I'm following short, I should begin to submerge myself and submit my flesh because I realize the issue of sin is an issue of submitting your flesh. It's not so much that we want to purposely do stuff because the truth is we're choosing to make some of the choices we're making, and then we wonder why we're suffering certain consequences later. And the truth is, God gives us the freedom to do whatever we want. He's not going to control us, he still loves us in spite of us. The difference is the person we're really hurting is ourselves because later we have to live with the consequences of the choices that we make. And so that's why it says, do not be deceived, because at the end of the day, we reap what we sow. There's a scripture that says that God cannot be mocked. Whatever we reap, we will sow. So if we're sowing in certain areas in our lives and giving into our fleshly desires, then we're gonna reap out of those areas. But if we sow into the spirit, we're gonna reap out of the spirit. So let me continue. So the rest of this passage says, By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one that does not love his brothers. In First Corinthians 1023, it says, I have the right to do anything that you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but not everything is constructive. It goes back to show that we can do whatever we want, but at the end of the day, what are you feeding? Are you feeding your spirit or are you feeding your flesh? And it's like one of those things that you can't really hide eventually what you're doing. Eventually things come to the light, and the things that we don't share and we try to keep hidden, it makes it harder for us to become free of those things. And another thing I want to bring out is I want to really focus more, not so much on the fact that, let's be honest, we're all sinners and we fall short of the glory of God. But what is it that we're choosing? What is it we want in our life? What is it we want to see change? What is it that we're tired of? Because sometimes we wonder why we're struggling or suffering in a certain area, but we're not willing to make the change to do things differently. And I really just want us to think about that as we continue to dive into the scriptures and realize what is it that we're practicing? So I want to go on and read first John one, five through nine. It says, This message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. And if we say we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is the light, we have fellowship with one another, and in the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sins. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. When I read this, again, the word practice comes out and what we're practicing. But I like how it says that if we try to say we have no sin in our lives, we're deceiving ourselves and we're not practicing the truth. It's unrealistic to say that we never commit sin. It's humanly impossible for us to be perfect. There's gonna be areas in our lives that we're gonna continue struggling in if we don't learn to submit our flesh to Christ. Now, the word does promise as we continue to seek Christ, he will continue to perfect us until the day he comes back and returns to this earth for the second coming. So what that tells me is again, what I said earlier, what are you feeding? Because obviously it says that we'll be known by the fruit of our spirit. So what are we sowing in our lives? Are we sowing our time into worship with Jesus, seeking his face, reading his word, truly getting to know his love, really knowing who he is? Because it's so easy for us to sit there judgmentally and judge other people because of their sins and looking at them for all the bad choices they're making, and sitting on our high horse and saying, Oh, well, I don't do that. And okay, well, maybe your sin is just not as loud as theirs. Maybe you have things hidden in your life that no one can really see, but God sees it because He sees all things. And instead of sitting here blame um judging our neighbor or our brother, we should be looking at our own selves and the areas in our lives that we need to be correcting and fixing. Because at the end of the day, we're not accountable so much for others. We're first accountable for ourselves. And yes, we do have responsibilities as believers to other believers, but at the end of the day, we need to fix ourselves. We need to get ourselves right because how are you going to help set the captives free when you're still held captive in certain areas in your life, but you're trying to act like you're so perfect? And this is something I say to myself too. This is why I try to be very transparent and be honest that there's still things in my life that I struggle with, things that may seem hidden, not hidden, things that, you know, I still struggle with on a daily basis. And I continue to seek God to deliver me and give me the power. But also, it's easy to want to put it all on him. And I felt him tell me this week the issue you have is a submission issue of your flesh. And when he said that to me, I was like, hmm, that's really true. The issue that I'm having is even when God delivers us of things, we still choose to practice certain things. We still continue to choose to behave in certain ways. And like I said, it's so easy sometimes to look at others and look at where they're falling short when in reality, we're still falling short in different areas in our lives. And as we continue to mature and walk with Jesus, we will begin to feed our spirit. I really believe by practicing self-discipline and self-control, that we will begin to continue to overcome areas in our lives and the fruit of the spirit will become evident. The next thing I want to point out is aside from thinking we're winning in certain areas versus not, the second point I want to make is sometimes when we ask for forgiveness, we continue harping on it. Like we won't let it go. But God says he's forgotten it, that he remembers it no more. And Hebrews 8, 12, it says, For I will be merciful towards their iniquities and will remember their sins no more. Sometimes I feel like it's hard to start over or do what we're supposed to do because we continue reminding ourselves of the areas we fall in short and we keep reminding ourselves of the areas that we're struggling in, thinking that our sin is greater than God. But is our sin greater than God? Isn't our God a powerful God that has created a world, heavens and earth, that he has delivered and healed the sick and done signs, miracles, and wonders? So why would we sit here so focused on our own sin, holding ourselves back, which is what the enemy would love for us to do, is to think we're not worthy or that we can't walk in the power and authority of Christ. But God tells us he doesn't remember it. When we seek God and we continue to have that relationship, the greatest lie that we could believe is that because of our sin, that we have no worthy or that we can't be in the presence of God. And that's exactly what the enemy wants us to believe. He doesn't want us to know that if we have a relationship with Christ, we will be delivered from the bondages that hold us down in life. And I think it's so important for us to realize that he has forgiven us, that there is no condemnation in Christ. And yes, though we struggle, it says that he is, if we confess our sins, he will cleanse us of all unrighteousness. James 5.16 says, Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person has great power as it is working. This is a third point I want to make. If you're struggling in a certain area and you're having a hard time overcoming, it says to confess your sins to one another, to pray for one another. I encourage you to find someone that you trust within either your church or counselor, someone that you could speak to that has godly wisdom that would cover you in prayer and really wants what's best for you to help you overcome and that can minister to you. And really the biggest step of it all, and I think the reason we're asked to confess to one another is because A, we're being truthful of where we're struggling, B, we're bringing it to light. And when you bring it to light, then there's the darkness can't hide anymore. And that really sometimes sets you free just confessing it to somebody. I know for many, many years I struggled with porn addiction, with self-gratification, and lust for many years. Um, it crept in from a very young age when I was not even a teenager. And this is something that I do want to talk about one day on a different episode, but I was so ashamed. I for years was bound to this addiction, and I did not know how to bring it to light because it was so well hidden. I mean, no one knew about it. For years, I didn't tell people about my struggle. And it wasn't until one day I saw somebody's testimony of sharing what they went through and being set free that I met with that person and I shared what I was struggling with. And the fact that I began to confess it to her, and then I confessed it to two other people that I trusted that I know are wise women of God, they began to pray for me and began to help me. And I was able ultimately to be set free from that. But it was something that I was bound to for several years, and I did not know how to quote unquote get rid of it. I try to do it in my strength so many times, not realizing that the confession and bringing it to light was one of the biggest steps to the deliverance. And after that, I began to seek God and I began to understand the peace as surpassal understanding. And when I began to submerge myself more in his word, I began to have more freedom because those thoughts and desires were no longer waging war inside of me like they were before. I began to find peace in Christ and began to no longer desire those things because I began to abide in him, which is why the first scripture I talked about earlier, the first passage where it says, What are you practicing? Because those that abide in Christ do not continue to sin. But the reason they do not continue to sin is not because of their own strength. You continue, you stop sinning in certain areas as you continue to submit to him because he begins to deliver you, and you don't feel this necessity to go outside of him to find pleasure in those things. That's why eventually, as you continue to seek God, it says he will continue to perfect you. Not that we're doing it in our own strength. So many times we think we need to stop doing it on our own, that we need to get ourselves right, that we need to do this and we need to do that. And we become so obsessed with our sin that we're not even really submitting ourselves to what Christ wants to do in our life because we feel like, oh, I'm gonna be a hypocrite if I continue doing this. How has God even used me? Well, first off, we have to admit if we're habitually doing something because we're choosing to, is we're gonna have to submit ourselves and practice self-discipline. We're gonna have to do something about it. And then on top of that, we need to seek God's face and begin to ask him to help us and to seek him and ask what he wants to do in our lives. I know so many times I ran away from my calling because I did not want to be the hypocrite. I knew I was doing things in my life that were not pleasing to God. I was choosing to live in disobedience. And because of that, I struggled with a lot of anxiety because I knew what I was doing was not in the will of God. And I didn't realize that until now that I'm older, now that I'm in this season, that a lot of my anxiety came from my disobedience. A lot of my anxiety came from doing things that were outside of the will of God. And then I was wondering why I was struggling later on in life or why I was so anxious all the time because I was always so afraid of being found out, or I was so afraid of people knowing what I was doing, or I was so afraid of this and that, or I wasn't good enough and whatever. And I realized when I stopped focusing so much in my areas of struggle, and I really was just like, you know what, God, here I am. Do what you want with me. That's when I began to really find freedom. I greatly desire for everybody to know this freedom that we can attain in Christ. And it is as simple as just asking him to come be part of our life. It's confessing that he died on the cross for our sins, that God raised him from the dead and ask for forgiveness and allow him to begin to redeem us. And you can do that by just simply confessing those things right now and just thank him, and you will begin to be able to walk in that power and authority that Christ gave us. I want to go ahead and close out in prayer. And I just want to say thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you that you're a good father. I pray that we would be Christ-focused, Lord, that we wouldn't continue focusing so much on our sin, but that we begin to confess those things, bring them to light, allow them to be exposed so that you begin to do the things you need to do in our lives. I pray that we would submit our hearts to you, our flesh to you, Lord, and allow your Holy Spirit to reign. And we just bind the lies of the enemy in the name of Jesus and loosen your truth, that we would have the ears to hear. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.