It happened again. You were going about your day when temptation, familiar and sweet, crept over your defenses. You gave in. And now you’re at the end of the day, the recollection running through your mind on repeat. The shame feels overwhelming. Hadn’t you defeated that offense against God years ago?
Giving in to sin leaves us defeated and confused. It makes us wonder: If we try a little harder, will we stop sinning in this lifetime? And if not, is there any hope in our fight against sin? We often think of sanctification as a clear path forward, that as we grow older in our faith, we become better, less sinful humans. But when we mess up, this simplified definition leaves us comfortless. Searching Scripture, we see there’s more to sanctification than just becoming better and magically sinning less. The Westminster Shorter Catechism helps us more clearly define it: “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness” (Q. 35). In other words, sanctification isn’t effortless. The act of dying to sin implies spiritual battle and life-long war against sin. Living unto righteousness implies costly, intensive labor that daily says “no” to sin and “yes” to Christlikeness.
So what do we do when we fail yet again? How can we overcome feelings of failure, defeat, and self-loathing when we sin?
A Work of God’s Free Grace
Many of us struggle to figure out where God and our Christianity fit into our everyday lives. We know God shows up in the big moments and decisions, but what about when we’re sweeping the floors, driving to work, or surfing the internet? When we trust in Christ, each moment of our lives is covered by God’s free grace, and an outpouring of that gift of free grace is sanctification (WSC Q. 32).
God wove sanctification into the very fabric of salvation. In Ezekiel, God tells his people that one day, he will gather them from all the countries and bring them into his land (Ezek. 36:24). He’ll cleanse them just as a father gives his newborn baby his first bath (Ezek. 36:25). And to make the changes stick, God will provide them with his holy Spirit, so they can walk in his statutes and obey his rules (Ezek. 36:27). Do you see God’s mighty hand in the work of salvation and sanctification?
God knows that his power and his grace are exactly what we need if we’re going to obey him. So when we’re sweeping the floors—again—and feel close to being defeated by impatience or bitterness, we can cry out to God with gratitude for the good gifts he has given us. When we feel the familiar swell of anger during traffic, we can say “no” to cutting off the car next to us. When our fingers begin typing out that internet website we turn to when we’re lonely, we can shut the laptop and call a friend. Christ’s resurrection gives us the power to turn from sin toward godliness.
Enabled to Die—Enabled to Live
So far, all this easily brings worship and hope, doesn’t it? Sanctification as a work of God’s free grace? Thank you, God! Sin’s power over me is broken? This brings so much hope, Lord! Then we bring our noses out of Scripture and discover that temptation still pulls at us. Resisting sin is not as easy as we’d hoped it would be.
Every day, we live in the tension of definitive and progressive sanctification. We’re made new, yes, but Paul reminds us in Galatians that “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Gal. 5:17). In other words, every day, we wage war against sin with the Holy Spirit’s help.
Before Christ, any resistance against sin was futile. But now? With Christ’s help and example, we’re enabled to die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24).
So what do we do when we can’t see the fruit or when temptation overwhelms? Where do we get the power to say “no” to sin and “yes” to godliness? We go to the One “who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). We draw near to the throne of grace with confidence, “that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
A New Master
Lingering sin makes us feel as if we’re controlled or mastered by our flesh. It makes us feel as if we’ll never be able to say “no” when we should say “no”—or say “yes” when we should say “yes.” But the good news of grace tells us that we have a new master, and it’s not the sin plaguing us: “Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:17–18). Sin no longer lords over us because Christ has broken sin’s power over us. Christ has taken his rightful place on the throne of our hearts. Our affections answer to him.
Let us take heart in our fight against sin even today. God has not forgotten or abandoned us. He’s not ashamed of us. What’s more, he has credited to us the righteousness of his own perfect Son. Your work may still be a daily fight, but his is finished—and you can rest in that.
