You are not your sin

While on the road today running errands, I took a quick glance at my phone and noticed a notification from Threads. The excerpt was from a post by a young man asking for help because he kept committing the same sin. This young man was tired of repenting for the same sin. I opened the app, read the entire post, and instantly remembered the words I had written in my journal almost a year ago: “You are not your sin.” I began to type a response to his post to share my experience. Fast forward, I was home and remembered that I was typing the response, but I noticed I had ended up closing the app. I must have gotten distracted in the bank at that time.

Now that I’m home, as I am reminded of the post again, I want to share my response here. I may not reach that particular individual, but as the Word of God says, “there is no temptation that is not common among believers,” and so there may be others with this experience.

There was a period in my life, I couldn’t understand how I am baptized yet found myself still committing the same sin. It was like I would be fine, then here comes temptation, and before you know it, I’ve fallen again. This would happen for a while until I said, “This can’t be my portion. This is not of God.” It wasn’t until I cried out to God, telling him I was tired of repenting for the same thing, that I heard, “You are not your sin.” I was led to a time when Paul expressed that he was fighting to do good but would always end up doing the thing he didn’t want to do. I had always read that passage, but it was during my great frustration that I read it prayerfully.

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. Romans 7:14-15

Why did I keep doing the thing I hate? Why did I keep doing the things God hates?

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Romans 7:17-23

Paul’s inner man wants to serve God, but he was seeing another law working in him. This was exactly how I was feeling. But God said, “You see, I died to take away your sins. Sin doesn’t belong to you.” But why did this keep happening?

At one point, I believed that it’s just who we are, and since Paul battled with sin, it will always be this way for believers. But this highlights the importance of reading scripture in context and being guided by the Holy Spirit. Here is the good news: Paul said one important thing at the end of this chapter: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:24-25

Why do you think God tells us to walk in the Spirit so that we will not fulfill the works of the flesh? “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16” Because if we live according to the flesh we will continually find ourselves in these sinful patterns. God also tells us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 2 Corinthians 13:5”

At that time in my life, I had to examine myself because if the fruit we produce does not align with that of the Spirit of God, then something is wrong. We have to fill our minds with God’s Word. It is quick, powerful, and sharp. Once the Word is within us, written on our hearts, it reacts to temptation quickly. We learn to make better decisions, not giving place to the enemy.

I was baptized by water. But little did I know that that moment was just a physical representation of the spiritual baptism that must take place. I had to be dead to the flesh and alive to the spirit of God, that I might be resurrected into the life God ordained for me—a life of being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, one that is set apart, pure, and holy. The one that lives after the example set by Jesus Christ while He was on earth. The one that is in this world but not of it. This is nothing living by the flesh can accomplish.

Before we fall, there is always a door that opens (an opportunity for sin). Where we are spiritually will determine how we respond. It will determine whether we walk through that door or shut it. When Paul said, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” he spoke truth. It is Christ who is able to truly deliver us. While I can tell you that you are not your sin—you are not that thing you keep doing that you know God hates—I must also tell you to examine yourself, consider your ways. Where do you need to set better boundaries? What do you need to be more intentional about? Are you just hearing the Word of God, or are you also being intentional about doing what it says?

There is a deeper revelation about the law of sin, but until next time, think on these things.