How can we try to ‘walk in the light’? 1) Sin is God’s enemy, and ours. Jesus said, ‘There is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy’ (Luke 11: 23 MSG). Being neutral or passive aren’t options; we must treat sin like the enemy it is. 2) Be honest with ourselves and with God. If we do something wrong, we shouldn’t excuse it by saying ‘it’s just my nature’ or ‘it’s just the way I am’. 3) Don’t beat ourselves up. We don’t need to condemn ourselves before taking our problem to God. We don’t have to make ourselves miserable to deserve forgiveness. That comes by grace, through faith alone. Every second spent in self-condemnation is time stolen from you by Satan. The moment we acknowledge a sin is the moment that brings the cleansing of sin. 4) If we repeat the same sin, repeat the confession. God accepted Jesus as a substitute for all our sins for all time, so He’ll never reject us. Isaiah told God’s people, ‘Return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy…and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon’ (Isaiah 55:7 KJV). Above all, we need to be patient and give the Holy Spirit time to develop the strength needed to overcome our bad habits – we can trust that God will help us (see Philippians 1:6).
What now?
Is there a bad habit you want to get rid of? Every time you realise you’re being tempted by it, ask the Holy Spirit to come and help you turn away from it.