Blake Long

You wake up in the morning and, by instinct, the first thing you do is check social media. You instantly crave the latest “news” and you fear you’ve missed something if you don’t check it (which is a lie, of course). You mindlessly scroll on Facebook until you realize it’s time to get ready for the day.

You’ve already missed your Scripture time—again. Instead of diving into God’s Word, you dove into the struggle of being consumed by social media.

Understanding you’ve failed causes you to be frustrated. This frustration leads to speaking rudely to your spouse and being impatient with your children. And you hate to tell them why you’re impatient, partly because you hate admitting your failures but you’re also, somewhat, perhaps denying it.

That never works.

As you drive to work, you make sure to listen to some Christian music that sets your mind of Jesus. You make sure to pray once you park the car. Pray for your spouse, your kids, and forgiveness for your sins that morning. It’s a good refresh. You began the day off on a bad note, but things can get better.

But then the sin that has travelled with you all through life came back. It just won’t go away. It’s a pest. Sometimes it comes back suddenly and without notice—other times you coax it in. This was a “coax it in” type of moment. Here you are again: succumbing to your sin. Taking your eyes off Jesus. That night, you make it a point to read your Bible and to renew your mind as Romans 12:2 says.

Rinse and repeat.

Christian, is this you? Or a variation of your life? It certainly is for me. If we’re honest, we all have sins that are too prevalent in our lives, to the point where we despair over the fact that we still struggle with them. So let’s be honest about our struggles. We must remember two things: 1) the struggle is real, and 2) the struggle is good.

The struggle against sin is real, it is difficult, it is tedious. Sometimes it causes us to despair. It’s important to look at the testimony of the Apostle Paul in Romans 7. If Paul struggled, we will too. In so many words, Paul laments his journey through the struggles of sin. He knows what to do but he simply doesn’t do it. The things he wants to do, he doesn’t do; the things he doesn’t want to do, he does.

C.H. Spurgeon recognized the struggle with sin, too:

We know what it is to get under a cloud sometimes: sin within us rises with a darkening force.

Sin is a “darkening force.” Does that sound familiar to you? Do you look at sin that way?

There’s a good ending, of course. Jesus delivers us from this seemingly never-ending cycle of our struggle with sin! May we keep our eyes on Jesus even as we lament our struggle with sin.

And here’s the important part: it’s so good to have a struggle.

Struggling with sin shows there has been an attitude change toward sin. Those who love their sin do not struggle with committing sin. Though the struggle can be agonizing at times—even excruciating—we must take solace in the fact that the mere struggle with sin is evidence that we are children of God.

It’s good to struggle. It’s good to fight. It’s good to go ten rounds with sin everyday because it reveals that the sin we once loved, we now hate; the sin we once cherished, we now abhor; the sin we once coddled, we now seek to kill.

However, we must be careful not to make struggling with sin an excuse to play with our sin. A struggle conveys a fight, a battle, a war. That is exactly what the struggle with sin is—a war. Let us not flippantly say “we’re struggling” just to get out of a difficult conversation. The more specific we are with our struggles (exercise caution with who you explain details to), the less of a grip sin has.

Christian, take heart. I know you are struggling, but remember it’s good that you’re struggling. Of course, don’t remain passive in your struggle with sin—you must fight! But don’t allow the struggle to drive you to despair. Keep your eyes on Jesus.