If you go up to a smoker and tell him to quit because it is slowly killing him, the smoker usually will laugh and shrug off your caring comment without any conviction whatsoever. So why should Pastors get away with simply telling people that they should just stop sinning?
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT promoting sin or smoking but I am trying to make a point, so hang with me. :)
No smoker quits "cold-turkey", or right away. It is a process that is slow, long, and painful. Smokers get so caught up in the "habit" of smoking that breaking that habit is extremely hard and most of them start on the Journey of Stopping and fail due to discouraging/negative thoughts like "I can't do this."
Similarly, many sins can become so habitual that they are hard to conquer. But isn't it kind of necessary? Think about it, when you sin you feel the rush of rebelling and it feels good, almost like an accomplishment, for a few short seconds. Then the reality of your recently committed sin smacks you like a heavy weight champion and you're floored by the weight of your misstep.
Oops.
Romans 6:19 (MESSAGE) says it pretty well.
"...You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?"
Okay, so on one hand we have a carefree lifestyle where anything goes and on the other hand we have a life of rules and standards that are very high set and seem almost impossible to the poor newbie. BUT! The lifestyle that has no worries or rules slowly suffocates you like a boa and the one with strict rules and high standards becomes easier and more free as time passes. Which one do you choose?
I understand more than most that breaking old habits and tough sins is like a bed of roses, sounds easy until you get deeper in and realize the thorns HURT! But fear not, there is a bonus to the harsh struggle of overcoming sin, you get to live the life that GOD wants you to live. That's right he has a blue-print of your future and although you begun to deviate from the plan, He is ready to tear down the hunk-of-junk you built and rebuild you a mansion that he will be more than happy to abide within!
"But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master."
Romans 6:22-23
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