What Is Sin And Why Do I Struggle With It?

Maybe our problem is the way we define sin. Maybe that is what all the confusion is about. It seems that we are confusing the fruit of sin with the root of sin and we need a little education from the Word to better understand the parameters of our discussion. Let's start with this fact:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

And just for good measure we shall add:

"If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:10)

So something everyone in this world has in common is this fact that we have all fallen short of Yahweh's glory. None of us can ever claim that we have never sinned against Yahweh and thus having sinned stand guilty of our rebellion. But consider the root of all our behaviour, which is rebellion against Yahweh:

"All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6)

The lying, stealing, cheating, sexual immorality, hatred, murder, and all the rest are only the fruit of sin. Just as love, joy, peace, hope and all the rest is the fruit of his love in us, all the negative stuff is the fruit of our sin nature which is rebellion against Yahweh. How is sin defined? "We have turned, every one, to his own way." That is the best definition you are going to find. Our actions are only the fruit of the root and the root is a heart that is turned to it's own ways instead of the righteous path of Yahweh.

All the epic battles in your life have come down to the struggle between your selfish nature and Yahweh's holiness. Eve's sin was a selfish act, when she put her wants ahead of Yahweh's instructions. David's many sins stemmed from the same source as has every sinful act committed by every single human in history.

Only Jesus has made it possible for this bondage to be broken so that we can make ourselves slaves to Yahweh's righteousness. If that is not your desire you will continue to stumble, struggle, and war against yourself. Peace is found when we swim out to the current of Father's will and allow ourselves to be carried along, swimming with the current instead of against it. Understand the source, the root of the fruit that is produced in your life. Is it the good stuff produced by the Spirit in you, or the rotten stuff that comes from your heart rooted in rebellion? If you can understand this root, you may discover you have been sinning without knowing it, blocking your destiny with Yahweh. Discover it, confess it, be set free from it, and begin to soar as you were designed to soar.