Q&A – WHY DO BELIEVERS STILL SIN? - 2

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Q&A –  WHY DO BELIEVERS STILL SIN? - 2

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of IAUE.

In our last post, we identified four ways believers respond to sin in their lives.

1.  We are sorrowed unto genuine repentance.  Sin grieves our hearts because it is never our intention.

2.  We are frustrated by the repetition of sin in our lives; and we vow to do better.

3.  We are frustrated by the repetition of sin in our lives; and we reluctantly acquiesce to its inevitability. 

4.  We freely entertain certain sins; and accommodate them by giving them opportunity and occasion.

Each of these responses ultimately originates in the way we THINK about sin.  Let’s examine that idea.

In #1, we think of sin as a crime against our Master.  It is to be avoided at all costs.  We THINK that sin dishonors our Elohim; that it is uncharacteristic of the life that has been created within us; that it interferes with our fellowship with IAUE, Yahushua and our fellow disciples (1 John 1); and it is beneath the dignity of any who are called by the name of Yahushua.  Consequently, every transgression pains us because we know what it cost our Master to purchase our forgiveness; and what it costs us to have it in our current life.  Our desire is to resolve its stain upon our life immediately.

In #2, because we want to walk in a manner pleasing to the Master, when certain sins manage to find repeated experience in our lives; we THINK that it becomes our responsibility to overcome those sins.  We THINK that we can put an end to them by the exercise of our own might and effort.  We THINK that by our own will power we can put an end to our disobedience to the Master.

In #3, because we have discovered that by our own might and effort we cannot overcome those repetitious sins, we give ourselves over to them with a “What’s the use of trying to quit?” attitude. We THINK that we have the ultimate victory of salvation while at the same time we THINK that we will never experience personal victory in these areas of our life.  We THINK we are just human, so why beat ourselves up over the frailty of our own humanity.

In #4, we THINK that there is no eternal consequence to our engaging in sin.  We may limit the depth to which we will disobey our Elohim and our Master Yahushua to those acts that are only offensive to Him and not to society (i.e., not criminal acts).  Unfortunately, there are many believers that engage in acts that are deemed criminal by society’s laws; and yet they THINK they can do so without harming anyone (although they take precautions not to get caught and suffer the legal consequences of their actions). For those who make provision for sin in their lives and believe there may be eternal consequences to their actions, they THINK that it is worth the risk.

We have a thinking problem, and the apostle Paul diagnosed a solution to this problem in his epistle to the Romans.  He said we are not to be conformed to this world.

This word “conformed” (Greek - syschematizo) means to adapt one’s mind and character to a preset standard. The word for “world” (Greek – aion) means an age, a period of time. Specifically, it has reference to the unbroken period of time of man dating from Adam until the coming of the last Adam to take up the throne of David in the millennial reign of Messiah on earth.  In this verse, it means our lives are not to be shaped by the ever changing cultures and attitudes of the world where life is defined by ego-driven values and peer pressure.

“Do not be conformed to this world” is the command; but it does not help us to know that this is what IAUE expects of us. We have always pretty much understood this to be the case.  It does not help us to cease sinning…to cease behaving like the rest of the world behaves with disregard to the holiness of IAUE and the purity of our Master Yahushua.  The solution comes with the next part of the verse.

“but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  The word “transformed” (Greek – metamorphoo) means “to change into a different form.”  This is a dramatic departure of the life that is in conformity with the push, pull and tug of the world. It is something entirely NOT like the men and woman of this age. This transformation changes the way we think and the way we behave. It affects our character and our integrity. It makes us different from those who are being conformed by the age.

                                        

How are we to experience this transformation, this metamorphosis from the way of living defined and decreed by this world?  We are to do so by the renewing of our mind.  This word “renewing” (Greek – anakainosis) means to renovate, to bring about a complete change. We are to change our thinking. It is our thinking that has always been Satan’s target in man.

2 Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Messiah, who is the image of IAUE, should shine unto them.

The first of the four responses to sin demonstrates renewed thinking.  The rest of the responses proceed from wrong thinking.  We must have renewed thinking to prevent being conformed to this age.  Notice, in the first response, it is the desire to do the will of IAUE that is foremost and which is honored in the mind and heart of the disciple.  That factor is missing from the other three responses.  Look at the purpose of a renewed mind.  It isn’t just to keep from being conformed to this world; it is so we can “know what is that good, and perfect and acceptable will of IAUE.”  It is by doing the will of IAUE that our lives are transformed; and it is impossible to do that which we do not know to do.

To the heart that is characterized by our first response, doing the will of IAUE has already become the rule of life and the purpose of existence.  Not so, with #2, #3 and #4.  “Self” (the flesh) remains important to the disciple who has not yet realized the preeminence of doing the Father’s will.  We must have an understanding of how IAUE wants us to think; and the first thing we need to learn to think is that life is not about us.  The sooner we realize that, the sooner we are going to want to know how to think like the one that life IS all about.

There have been many books written about renewing the mind.  This blog dedicated several posts to the subject; so I won’t belabor the point, here.  Suffice it to say, we need to ready, study and meditate on the Scriptures to give the Holy Spirit the chance to teach us how to think with IAUE’s thoughts; to know His will so we can abandon ourselves to the performance of it.

It may be of some comfort to know that the very nature of Paul’s instructions in this verse recognizes the inevitability of sin in the life of the believer.  How can we know in which areas of our lives our thinking is wrong?  While we are in the process of changing the way we think about all things through the renewing of our minds, the Holy Spirit is going to convict us of our transgressions as they occur.  This ministry of the Holy Spirit will serve as a flashing traffic light to alert us to an area of our life where wrong thinking produced wrong acting.  Our ever decreasing sins will serve as a spotlight on areas of our lives that yet need to be transformed by changing the way we think.

Wrong thinking is just one of many reasons why believers still sin; but it is perhaps the most important one.  We can never rise above our wrong thinking.  The moment we begin thinking about our lives and thinking about sin the way IAUE thinks about them, the sooner the vast resources of Heaven can be applied to our transformation and set us free from the bondage of responses #2, #3 and #4.