Walking in a Continuous State of Sin

Tonight I was reading through chapter seven of “Grace Walk” by Steve McVey. We are going through it in my church small group. While I was reading the chapter, I highlighted a couple of sections that are worth sharing and commenting on.

Christians who are not abiding in Him [Christ] are walking in a state of continuous sin, regardless of their actions.

Christians, myself included, have the tendency to gauge our spiritual success based upon our feelings and outward appearances. If we are not overtly engaging in sinful behavior then we feel good about our spiritual condition, regardless of whether we are trusting and abiding in Christ or not. However, this is short-sighted and does not describe sin as the New Testament characterizes it. The biblical definition of sin extends far beyond behavior and even thought patterns. It very simply is the condition of living with a broken relationship with God.

Jesus assures us in John 15:5 that, “apart from me you can do nothing.” Yet we strive to keep ourselves from sinning day after day, having no real fellowship with Jesus. This is a guaranteed recipe for failure. We have cut ourselves off from the only source of power to do anything as a Christian – Christ Himself. This is a state of sin no matter what we do.

So what does it look like to abide in Christ? Very simply put, it is to live by faith in Christ. Many references in the New Testament affirm that trusting in Jesus is the only way to live a righteous life. This isn’t just trusting Him for salvation in the sweet by and by. Much more, this is trusting Christ for the resources to overcome temptation and experience the abundance that Jesus said he came to deliver (John 10:10). It is maintaining our relationship with him, not merely doing things for him.

Validating McVey’s point in the quote above, Paul taught that “…everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23) If we are not approaching life’s decisions and temptations from a place of trust in Christ and our relationship with him, then we are walking in a state of continuous sin, regardless of our behavior.

I have made the additional mistake of viewing the Christian life as a car battery that must continuously be charged to keep my spiritual motor running. This is not to discount the importance of spiritual disciplines. However, as stated previously, if those disciplines are not an overflow or in maintenance of a trusting relationship with Christ, they are of little value.

McVey put it this way…

I’ll never think of getting my spiritual battery charged again. When we abide in Christ, it is like turning a switch into the “on” position and allowing the full power of Jesus Christ to flow through us. When we choose to rest in His life, we experience victory. When we choose not to abide, we flip the switch to the “off” position and we fail.

So what does any of this have to do with sexual purity? Well, I’m glad you asked!

God does not hide his face from us when we have slipped up. Having a few weeks or months of behavioral purity under our belts doesn’t mean that we are any more acceptable to God. We can turn to him at any time because of Jesus. That is what the cross is all about! We don’t do so because of our deep shame, but that is a topic for another post!

The bottom-line is this: if we have a long stretch of sexual purity behind us and yet we are not abiding in Christ, it is only a matter of time before our continuous state of sin (broken fellowship with God) expresses itself in specific sinful behavior. For those like me whose flesh has a bent toward sexual sin, that is the likely candidate.

By contrast, even if we have been recently sexually acting out, we can repent and turn to Christ. We can receive his grace afresh and allow his love that has never changed to begin changing us once more.

I also want to make this last point: I am not talking about losing our salvation. Rather, I am talking about those who have trusted Christ for salvation cutting themselves off from the process of sanctification by breaking fellowship. Fortunately for us, God has promised never to break fellowship with us because of Christ! We can return to him and pick that relationship back up at any time.

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