The Secret to Killing Your Secret Sin.

As Christian men our sin can keep us neutered from our effectiveness and destroy our own self worth, further making us feel unworthy and ineffective. This is a perpetual cycle. However, largely in the church we are not taught how sin acts and then how to overcome sin. Jesus explains both of these principles in a short parable found in Luke 11:24-26. For context sake, Jesus was among a crowd and just finished driving out a demon that caused a man to be mute. He teaches on sin by saying:

24 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”

I am reminded by this first in my own battle with sin that Jesus has set me free from but has taken time to be brought through. Often in my striving to be an overcomer I never understood the insidious nature of sin itself. Sins that our Savior has picked for us to overcome can grow and manifest and stick deep within our being because we’ve never been taught to “replace” it. This is how habitual secret sin works. It is like the verse in proverbs that says “As a dog returns to his vomit so a fool repeats his folly”. Habitual secret sin eats at the believer because with each sinful action it grabs more and more of a hold over you and controls you all while eating away your self confidence and worth. Anyone who has dealt with a habitual sin or addiction of any kind on any level knows this to be rock solid truth. This is the kind of sin that robs you of a deep intimacy with God. Make no bones about it, if the evil one lost you to Christ his next tactic is to try and make you useless, captured in a sin. But God desperately wants you to know the victory and freedom on the other side of your secret habitual sin.

Jesus in the parable teaches us something very important to stop this cycle. Replace the void left by this sin and the cycle can be broken. How often do we as believers draw a line in the sand and say no more of _________. Jesus in this verse illustrates that turning from your sin isn’t enough. You must replace it. Replace it with what? Church speak would say more of Jesus and many kind hearted Christians may say the same. I say hogwash. When you’re transformed by Christ you’re given a new identity. Inside that new identity is the antithesis to your sin problem. For instance for lust/pornography your new identity is a protector. Embrace your calling as a protector of all women and your lust/porn problem has been replaced. For gossip/slander embrace your identity as an encourager and gossip/slander has no place in your identity. For sinful anger embrace your identity as a person of compassion and self control and sinful anger has no place in you. For cowardice/low confidence embrace your identity as a victor because of Christ and a holy confidence will grow within you. You see, God’s word in the person of Christ has provided a complete identity to replace any sin we struggle with. He lived a perfect and sinless life with a perfect identity. His Holy Spirit within you will identify with this identity, and its truth will begin renewing your mind to begin the process of weeding this sin out of your life. It is a beautiful, freeing thing.

Are you struggling with a secret habitual sin today? You are set free in Christ. Now replace that lying identity with a true identity in Christ that your spirit is craving. God’s desire isn’t for you to be stuck in patterns of sin. His desire is victory in your life.