“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1–2, ESV)
We have been talking about living a Spirit-filled life. One of the marks of a Spirit-filled life is to have a song on your heart. Another mark is the desire to live holy and blameless before the Lord. The Spirit in my life gives me a heightened awareness and displeasure towards my sin. He then moves me to repent of that sin and gives me the power to resist temptation.
Without the Spirit at work in my life, I will not live convicted of my sin other than when my sin causes me trouble. Without the Spirit at work in my life, I will not have much of a desire to conform my life to God’s will.
Heightened Awareness of Sin
The Spirit of God gives me a heightened awareness towards sin. Without the Holy Spirit I may not even recognize the sin in my life. I will chase after worldly pleasures, like most everyone around me, without giving it a second thought.
Right now the lottery is big in the news. A $1.3 billion jackpot. I hate the lottery. It is responsible for damaging countless lives. How may people who play the lottery have little money to spend? The lottery is the last thing they should be doing with their money. But the promise (the lie) of get rich quick is enticing. Even those who win will lose. Money corrupts. Money changes us. It also changes the people around us and negatively impacts our relationships. More than a few lottery winners have shared how winning the lottery was the worst thing that ever happened to them.
I don’t want this to be a rant on the lottery. My point is that when the Spirit fills our lives, he will make us uncomfortable practicing poor stewardship with our money. We don’t need someone else to tell us something is wrong because it will not sit right with our spirit. We will have a hard time justifying it is only a dollar and that it is not that big of a deal. Whether it is a big sin or a little sin, it will disturb us.
Hatred of Sin
The Spirit causes us to despise the sin in our hearts. The Apostle Paul speaks about this struggle in Romans 7. He says:
“For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:19, ESV)
He wrestles with his desire to serve the Lord and his desire for evil caused by sin. There is a war being waged in our hearts. Without the Spirit of God, we may be free of this struggle, but our hearts will be inclined towards evil. Without the Spirit, we will barely give thought to sin. We sin carefree, and it does not bother us. But Paul issues a warning about this:
“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6, ESV)
Sin might be good for the moment. But whatever pleasure I get from my sin will be short lived. There is a world of hurt to follow.
The Power to Repent
Repentance is to amend my life. It is to turn from my sin. It is to live a different way. When Jesus began to preach his message was:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17, ESV)
The invitation of Jesus is to come as we are (sin and all) but don’t stay the same. The Christian life is all about change and transformation. That change is repentance. It is to move from living for ourselves to living for something/someone greater!
The Power to Resist Temptation
We are at that time of the year when many of us are giving up on our New Year’s resolutions. The temptations were just too great. Life has a way of pushing aside all of our good intentions.
The story of the temptation Jesus (see Luke 4:1), Jesus is brought into the desert by the Holy Spirit. It is important to note that this story begins with the recognition that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit that gave him the power to call on the Scriptures to stand strong against the temptation of Satan. Without the power of the Spirit, we are unable to stand strong. We need to know that the Devil is stronger than us. So we need one stronger than the Devil to dwell in us if we have any chance to stand in the face of temptation. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us that strength.
Questions for Reflection
- How does the Holy Spirit empower us to live holy lives?
- Can we live holy lives without the Holy Spirit (see Romans 8:7-8)?
- Where is the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin today? Confess it before God today and ask his help to overcome.
- Share your comments.
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