When Christians think of mortifying sin (or putting to death all disobedience to God), we often imagine this fierce tug-of-war. On the one side, we have the evil one prodding us toward more sin; while on the other side, we have the pure, undefiled Lamb of God calling us to holiness. Truthfully, we know that the Lord is victorious over sin and if we have been saved by His grace, we ought not struggle so intensely as if the two sides have equal power in our lives. The Almighty God has given us eternal life, fulfilling our one purpose: glorifying and enjoying Him. If we rightly grasp that Jesus is the Pearl of great price, then we ought to think of parting with sin as ultimately, supremely sweet.
We have been deceived into thinking that we experienced joy while living in sin, and so we think of parting with sin as a sorrowful experience. We are so focused on salvation as a free gift of God that we fail to see that assurance of faith which comes through the fruit of the Spirit, comes at a great price - just like the pearl in the parable.
We will continue to sin, falling short of God's perfect standard daily. We will struggle to put away deeds of the flesh until we are completely sanctified upon entry to the Kingdom beyond this world. But until then, we strive toward holiness and repent of our disobedience.
Parting with sin is very sweet. Clinging to sin brings great sorrow.
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