"Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."  - Romans 8:8 NIV

There are areas of sin in my life that I’ve been trying to destroy for years and I’ve found varying degrees of success.  Sometimes I’m able to replace the old way of sin with something that isn’t as destructive.  Sometimes I’m able to identify sin and just completely stop engaging it.  Sometimes I find a sin I can’t overcome so I look for triggers that I can avoid or “lesser sins” that aren’t as damaging.

These are all great approaches, but despite my best efforts I continue to sin in one way or another... and I think that might be the problem.

...despite my best efforts...

I don’t have the ability to remove sin from my life based on my own strength.  If I could do that there would be no need for Jesus and the sacrifice He made.  What’s more, God doesn’t call us to try to eliminate sin on our own... that’s why He sent Jesus – He knew we couldn’t do it!

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."  - Romans 8:1-2 NIV

Still, despite all this, I try... and fail.

Truthfully, when I find I’ve failed at something in my life I have two options for the way I can handle it:  I can either fall into discouragement and look for another way I can try to fix the problem myself, or I can recognize that my own efforts aren’t enough and that my best response is to pray.

And so it’s in failure that I’m reminded I need God.  Thank God for failure!

Don’t get me wrong; I’m going to continue to try to eliminate the sin in my life... but this time I’m going to ask God for help and I’m going to take the pressure off myself to have all the answers.  I’m probably still going to make mistakes and use some of the methods I mentioned above – but I’ll fail.  But with each failure I’m going to be reminded to rely less on myself and more on God.

And each failure will ultimately be a victory.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."  - Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV