When Horns Hold Your Halo
“I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate.” – Romans 7:15
It’s been said that the only difference between a Saint and a Sinner is that every Saint has a past, and every Sinner has a future. That statement waxes poetic, but that’s not the only difference. A Sinner is one who has not trusted solely on Christ for eternal life and thus lives independently of God (see Ephesians 2:12). Sinners live contrary to the holy character of God and are identified by their sin nature. By contrast, a Saint is a believer in Christ called out of the world to be God’s own people (see I Peter2:5). Saints are identified by their new nature in Christ because in Christ, that old sin nature is dead. Being dead to sin means the Saint no longer has to succumb to sin. He can choose to give in, but he’s not bound by it. But even in being dead to sin, we know that sin always returns to the scene of its previous success. And everyone, Sinner or Saint, falls short of God’s glory (see Romans 6:23). So what about when a Saint opts to walk in a behavior that is not consistent with his new identity? It happens because he has opened the door to short-term memory loss by forgetting who he really is.
When a Saint sins against his new nature, it grieves the heart of God because he’s walking out of character (see Ephesians 4:30). But when a Sinner sins, he is just doing his sinful nature dictates. Usually after such a statement, the follow-up question is something along the lines of “What about God’s grace?” I’m glad you asked . . .
Grace IS God’s unmerited favor expressed to humankind apart from any human works or worth. Grace IS NOT a license to take advantage of our liberty in Christ to walk contrary to the scriptures (see Romans 6:1-2). Furthermore, grace doesn’t mean that sin has no consequences. Just because we don’t get caught in the sin doesn’t mean we get away with it. Think about it…in that moment, what we’re really doing is losing the ability to hear from God. When we ignore those flashing red neon warning signs (see I Corinthians 10:13), we’re essentially telling the Spirit of God “Don’t talk to me.” And eventually, He will stop talking (see Romans 1:28).
So what’s the solution? How do we respond when horns hold our halos? We must continually be reminded of our true identity! Failure to live a deeply satisfying spiritual life always has the effect of making sin more attractive and therein lies sin’s strength. But as my pastor recently said in a message on temptation: “When you know who you are, it changes what you do.”
If you’re walking with Christ and struggling with sin, we’d like to remind you of who you are in Him. Click the link below and be encouraged:
“The Wrath of God is best seen when He does nothing about your sin.” – Matt Chandler
Edifying, Encouraging & Enlightening,
Excelsius
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