Y'know sis,
If you have ears for this, my advice to you is
stop trying.
It was after years and years of trying to be good, to make God happy, to make myself happy, to overcome, and FAILING time and time again.... that I finally was exhausted and told God,
"Lord, I am totally tired of this. I don't even know how to assess whether I love you or not. I want to say I do love you, but in my understanding of your Words (...if you love Me, you will keep My commandments), I guess I do not love you. In any case, I cannot do this anymore. I'm sorry. I've tried for years, but can no longer."
Almost as soon as I was finished uttering those words to God, God answered me. His Spirit conveyed, in total understanding to my inner man,
"You never could do it. I've been waiting for you to stop trying. It has all been accomplished in My Son, and the work is FINISHED."
And then, simultaneously, I entered into His rest (peace), as He also invited me again to enjoy His rest! I came back to the original gospel. It was staggering, and yet now I see that I think it is necessary for us to struggle with the Law (new covenant commandments), as believers, so that we, too, can experience the futility of the Law and works.
So, my advice to you is to stop all your efforts at trying to be good and begin to enter into His Rest. Enjoy His Grace. Your soul (self) will NEVER be able to achieve what only the Holy Spirit can do for you. And you will not understand this, truly, without experimentation.
The amazing thing about this, is that as you start to experiment with God, and receive His grace, and never-ending love, that THAT will begin to affect you, and change you from the inside ...out. It's amazing.
Is sin wrong? Is it okay to sin?
These questions just completely miss the point. These are the wrong questions altogether.
Legalistically, (if I am forced to give an answer to that question), then obviously, I guess, sin is wrong. BUT that is not what is at issue.
If sin were the issue, then we were already given a covenant to that affect (to address the sins of doing and not doing)..... it was called the LAW. And the Law did not bring about righteousness. Quite the opposite. The Law brought forth death! It is a ministry of death. And none, not one, of the forefathers, the patriarchs, nor disciples, could own up to its requirements. They were all crushed under its burden.
Grace and Peace in our Lord Jesus Christ!
So, sometimes a guy has to spell it out to make its impact: Go ahead and sin, experience the liberty and freedom of God, and as you continue to experience His Love and Grace, you will begin to notice a huge change in your inner person. Changes that will begin to happen in you that you could NEVER have made happen to yourself in your struggle against sin.
Reiterating: You already know your impossible attempts at mastering sin. So, attempting to master it is NOT the answer.
The added burden from the immature church, is to punish yourself (as you fail in performance) and keep up the pain and struggle. "Somehow, if you have a sense of guilt, it shows (to the 'church'), that you still have hope, and 'they' will still consider you on the hopeful list.
How awful!!!!!! That, will never give a person peace!!! Never experience FREEDOM.
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If you follow my advice, stop trying, God will get the glory when you experience the change that you yourself could never do. You will KNOW His Holy Spirit, and you will become a living testimony to Jesus.... by His Spirit.
There are Old Testament examples of this principle. Maybe I will post them later, but they went something like this: The people craved, lusted and were wanton, God gave them what they desired, but made their souls lean (empty). Then, they came to realize this and repented.
Kinda like, the cure to a poison is more poison. Sometimes it works that way.
But thanks be to God, for His Son. It always comes back to the free gift of God. Not works!
