The first thing to consider in
how to overcome habitual sin is to note the change, or transformation, that
takes place when a person is saved. The Bible describes the natural man as
“dead in sin and trespasses” (Ephesians 2:1). As a result of Adam’s fall into
sin, man is born spiritually dead. In this state of spiritual death, man is
unable and unwilling to follow and obey God and habitual sin naturally follows.
Natural man sees the things of God as foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14) and is
hostile toward God (Romans 8:7). When a person is saved, a transformation takes
place. The apostle Paul refers to this as the new creation (2 Corinthians
5:17). From the moment we place our faith in Christ, we are in the process of
sanctification.
The process of sanctification is
that by which those who are in Christ are conformed by the Holy Spirit into the
image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Sanctification in this life will never be fully
complete, which means that believers will always struggle with remaining sin. Paul
describes this battle with sin in Romans 7:15–25. In that passage he notes
that, even though he desires to do what is good in the eyes of God, he often
does what is evil instead. He does the evil he doesn’t want to do and fails to
do the good that he wants to do. In this, he is describing every Christian’s
struggle with sin.
James says we all sin in many
ways (James 3:2). Experience tells us that we struggle differently with sin,
perhaps one sin being more of a tripping point for one believer than another.
For some it might be anger whereas for others it is gossip or lying. We might
refer to a sin that is particularly difficult for us to overcome as a
“besetting” sin or a "habitual" sin. These besetting sins are often,
but not exclusively, habits that we developed during our lives as unbelievers
and require more grace and discipline to overcome.
Part of the process of overcoming
these habitual, or besetting, sins is in recognizing the transformation that
has indeed taken place within the believer. Paul writes, “So you also must
consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans
6:11). When Paul says, “Consider yourselves dead to sin,” he is telling us to
remember that, in coming to Christ, the power of sin has been broken in our lives.
He uses the metaphor of slavery to make this point. We were at one time slaves
to sin, but now we are slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:17–18). At the cross
the power of sin was broken, and, in becoming Christians, we are set free from
sin’s mastery over us. Therefore, when a Christian sins, it is no longer out of
the necessity of his nature, but because he has willfully submitted himself to
sin’s dominion (Galatians 5:1).
The next part of the process is
recognizing our inability to overcome habitual sin and our need to rely on the
power of God’s Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. Back to Romans 7. Paul says,
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have
the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Romans
7:18). The Christian’s struggle against sin is one in which our ability does
not match our desire. That is why we need the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul
later says, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). The Holy Spirit,
through God’s Word (John 17:17), works sanctification in the people of God.
Habitual sin is overcome as we submit ourselves to God and refuse the
temptations of the flesh (James 4:7–8).
Another part of the process of
overcoming habitual sin is to change the habits that facilitate it. We have to
adopt the attitude of Joseph who, when tempted by Potiphar’s wife to come to bed
with her, left the room so quickly that he left his cloak in her hands (Genesis
39:15). We simply must make every effort to run from the things that tempt us
to sin, including access to food if we are given to overeating, and access to
pornography if we are tempted to sexual sin. Jesus tells us to cut off our hand
or pluck out our eye if they “offend” us (Matthew 5:29–30). This means removing
from our lives the things that tempt us to sin even when those are things we
enjoy. In short, we have to change the habits that lead to habitual sin.
Finally, we need to immerse
ourselves in the truth of the gospel. The gospel is not only the means by which
we are saved, but it is also the means by which we are sanctified (Romans
16:25). If we think we are saved by grace, but sanctified by our own efforts,
we fall into error (Galatians 3:1–3). Sanctification is as much a work of God
as justification. The promise we have from Scripture is that He who began a
good work in us will complete it on the last day (Philippians 1:6).
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