Sin.

Sin. When we sin, we are no longer trusting that what God says or what He has for us is better. We are settling for selfish, temporary desires. Most of the time wanting instant gratification. One thing I am learning more and more about is God's grace. Something I heard at BSU a while back was this: People say that when Christ justified us it was "just as if we had never sinned." Well... God did wash us white as snow, but yet He saw our sin and yet chose to love us anyway. He saw our sin, knew we would fail and fail again, but still chose to sacrifice Himself for us. And because of that we are no longer in condemnation! I have heard it said many times that sometimes the reason we cannot hear God's voice is because there is sin in our life. That may be true sometimes, but if so... I don't know if I would ever hear God's voice! That puts the focus on our sin and it's like we have to "fix" our sin in order to be right with God. It's almost like we go back to before we were saved. We're trying to do something to get to God when He has already made the way. God has already made us right with Him! He wants to work on our sin with us! This gets back to the whole trusting God thing that I've been learning from the book TrueFaced. Sin is a problem, but we have to stop trying in our own power and realize that no matter how many times we try to overcome sin on our own, we can't. "Sin... confess... do better for a while, then sin again. Embarrassment, confess again, ask God to take away the desire, then sin again, confess again, sin again, confess again, shock, more determination to stop sinning, think about it a lot, examine it. Make promises, create some boundaries, and sin again, now even worse than before. Despair, anger, shame, distance from God, guilt. Self-condemnation, self-loathing... sin again. Disillusionment, doubt, self-pity, anger." (TrueFaced) It is only when we admit that we need God's grace and that it is only in His power and His strength that we can overcome it. We have to trust that God has already sanctified us and live out of who He says we are. Wow... I think a lot of this is coming straight from the book. But the more I've thought it through and soaked in it, the more it makes so much sense.