Dealing with sin
I don’t know about you but I find ‘sin’ hard… not doing it – that is all too easy – but thinking about it healthily, having the right attitude in my heart. Sometimes I feel too guilty and overwhelmed by sin, sometimes not guilty enough and full of self-justification. Sometimes my tongue trips over the words of a confession without thinking, sometimes I can barely even pray I feel so unworthy. What about you?
Yesterday in my sermon I talked about how seriously Jesus took sin. He was exaggerating to make a point when he said, ‘If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out’ (Mark 8.43, NIV). He made the point so forcefully because then and now we don’t take sin as seriously as we should.
That’s why Jesus did – and had to – give his life for our forgiveness. Nothing short of the life of the Son of God is enough to pay the price, undo the damage, cover over, restore us from the brokenness of sin. Central to the gospel is this free and undeserved forgiveness from God.
But what next? Like a wedding marks the beginning of a marriage, so the cross marks the beginning of a believer’s journey of faith. What comes next is sometimes called ‘sanctification’ – a lifelong process of living out the holiness that God has given us, learning what it means to live as a forgiven child of God.
Paul puts it like this in Ephesians 4:
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4.20-24 (NIV)
And in Romans 8:
If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8.13 (NIV)
The Father’s gift isn’t simply full and complete forgiveness in Jesus, but also his Spirit who helps us live this new life. ‘Putting off your old self’ means deliberately – and with the Spirit’s help – turning away from sin, from its desires, thoughts and actions.  We ask God to help us see and identify sin in our lives, and then deliberately, through prayer and discipline, stop it. This is not easy! God’s children are free from the dominion of sin but not its influence: it clings close, and if we’re honest we cling to it.
But as Paul said the new life isn’t only about putting off the old self, but putting on the new: learning to live and grow in the fruit of the Spirit, having our minds and our hearts and our attitudes renewed and reformed to be more like Jesus. This also happens through prayer and discipline – with the Spirit’s help.
Back to where we started: what is the right attitude to sin? First: thanking God for setting us free from its dominion and forgiving us completely. Second: with the Spirit’s help both putting off the old self, turning away from sin and putting on the new self, living the new life God gives.
Can you thank God today, this week – and ask him what you need to put off, and put on to live as his beloved child?