Something I Realized About Sin, Shame, and Following Christ…
I think if you’re struggling to fight against sin, you need to know that that’s because you have the Holy Spirit within you. Christ is in us, and we were made in His likeness and image.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him…”
Genesis 1:27
The closer you are with God, by listening to His voice, and your intuition (or the Holy Spirit) that leads you, and the more you are in His Word (the Bible), the more you grow your relationship with Jesus, The Son, (the only way to The Father (God) is through the Son) and the more that relationship grows, the more you naturally won’t be as inclined to sin or be a slave to it.
Not because you magically become perfect, or are expected to be, but because your natural desires start to change due to your relationship with God, and your increased desire to naturally appease Him as your bond with God increases. As this happens, the things of the flesh start to lose power over you, because your heart and mind start becoming more aligned with the things of the Spirit which is of God, and less of the Flesh, which is of this world.
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”
Romans 8:5-6
But our bodies are still of the flesh, and the flesh wants temporary satisfaction because it knows it is not eternal like our souls are. The flesh wants what feels good right now, while your soul wants what is eternal and aligned with God. So it’s always going to be a constant battle.
“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh…”
Galatians 5:16-17
“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind…”
Romans 7:22-25
Honestly, the fact that you feel that battle, is evidence that God is working in you. A hardened heart doesn’t fight sin. A dead conscience doesn’t feel conviction. Someone who is completely lost in the flesh doesn’t even care that they’re sinning. So if you’re struggling with it, feeling convicted by it, and wanting to change, that’s not proof that God left you. That’s proof that God is still leading you.
“And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
John 16:8
The conviction you feel when you know you have sinned, and the discernment you have, to know what is right and wrong, is of God.
The conviction is not there to destroy you or make you hate yourself, that is shame and guilt, and* *that is of not of God, that is of the enemy.
Conviction gives you the realization of what is right and what is wrong, and discernment gives you the clear direction.
They both show you what is wrong, what needs to change, and where God is trying to lead you.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…”
John 16:13
Conviction and shame/guilt are not the same thing.
Conviction says, “You did something wrong.”
Shame says, “You are something wrong.”
Conviction brings you back to God, and Shame makes you want to run from Him. Conviction leads to repentance, and Shame leads to hiding and isolation.
God doesn’t convict you to condemn you. He convicts you to redirect you.
He convicts you because He is trying to lead you back into alignment with Him, not because He wants you buried under guilt.
“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation… but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
2 Corinthians 7:10
But once you have that conviction and discernment, it becomes a responsibility, because you are not ignorant to it anymore. Once God reveals something to you, you can’t act like you don’t know.
This is why ignorance can feel like bliss, because ignorance doesn’t require you to be responsible for your convictions of needed change.
That is uncomfortable because that change requires you to go against your flesh.
He doesn’t show you things just so you can be aware of them. He shows you so you can do something about them. Then it becomes up to you.
Are you going to surrender it, or are you going to justify it? Are you going to follow where God is leading you, or keep choosing what your flesh wants?
That’s where you have to take up your cross.
Instead of shying away from it, you have to take up your cross like Jesus did** and make the needed sacrifices in your life to align with God’s will for you,** just as Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us. It is the ultimate symbolic metaphor.
Taking up your cross is the ultimate symbolism of sacrifice and surrender. Choosing to let the worldly desires of the flesh die, by making the sacrifices God is calling you to make, to align your life with His will, just as Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
James 4:17
And those sacrifices are always a struggle and uncomfortable because the flesh does not want to be denied. The flesh wants what is easy, immediate, and satisfying in the moment. But God’s will usually requires surrender, discipline, patience, trust, and obedience.
“…make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
Romans 13:14
What feels like a loss to the flesh is usually freedom for the soul. A lot of the time, the very thing God is asking you to give up is the exact thing keeping you in bondage. So even though taking up your cross feels like death to the flesh, it is actually life for your soul.
And that’s why those sacrifices must be made, God willing and they are always worth it long term. Because aligning with God’s will is what leads to ultimate freedom from the bondage of sin and from being a slave to sin.
God is not asking you to surrender things to take life away from you. He is asking you to surrender what is keeping you chained, so He can lead you into true freedom.
“…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:2
Thankfully, Jesus Christ knew this. That’s why He came down as God in the flesh and gave His blood as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, because no one on earth is worthy, sinless, or even capable of the goodness of God on their own. We are of the flesh, and we live in a world that surrounds our flesh with nothing but temptation.
Because like it says in the Bible, this is Satan’s world. He is literally the god (lowercase “g”) of this world. Everywhere you look, there are temptations, distractions, lies, and things trying to pull you away from God.
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life… And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof…”
1 John 2:16-17
Taking up your cross is the ultimate symbolism of surrender: choosing to die to the desires of the flesh, make the sacrifices God is calling you to make, and align your life with His will, just as Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
God Knew that. He knew we would fail. He knew we would stumble. He knew we would fall short. And that is exactly why God, came down as God in the flesh, as Jesus Christ, and made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
And if you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, literally. Then because of that ultimate sacrifice, we are forgiven for our sins.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart… thou shalt be saved.”
Romans 10:9
We are of the flesh, and we live in a world that surrounds our flesh with nothing but temptation. Because like it says in the Bible, this is Satan’s world. He is literally the god (lowercase “g”) of this world, and everywhere you look there are temptations, distractions, lies, and things trying to pull you away from God.
That guilt and shame is the devil in your ear trying to make you think you aren’t worthy, that you’re too far gone, or that your sin defines you. But that is not God. That is accusation. That is condemnation. That is the enemy trying to make you run from the same God who is trying to restore you.
Because that’s all the enemy can really do. He deceives you, accuses you, tempts you, distracts you, and uses fear, pride, shame, guilt, and lies to try to get you to turn yourself away from God, because the enemy knows he does not have the power to separate you from God directly. So instead, he tries to convince you to separate yourself.
That’s why Satan’s biggest trick has always been deception. From the very beginning, he twisted God’s Word and made Eve question what God really said, and he still does the same thing now. He makes you question God’s love, God’s forgiveness, your worth, whether you’re too far gone, whether God is still with you, and whether you can even come back.
But that is the lie. He is the “Father of Lies”.
And that’s what makes his deception so dangerous. Satan wasn’t some random being who never knew God. He was once in the presence of God. Scripture shows that he was a heavenly being who had access to the things of God before pride caused his fall. So he knows the Word. He knows the laws of God. He knows how God works. He knows what God says. He knows Scripture well enough that he even tried to twist it against Jesus Himself in the wilderness.
So the enemy is not always obvious, and he doesn’t always come at you in a way that looks evil. A lot of the time, he twists truth just enough to confuse you, condemn you, tempt you, or pull you away from God one compromise at a time. Sometimes he uses half-truths, distorted truth, guilt, shame, pride, fear, temptation, and condemnation. He knows just enough truth to twist it into a lie, and he uses that lie to try to get you to pull yourself away from God.
That’s why the tricks up his sleeve are deception, accusation, temptation, condemnation, distraction, pride, fear, shame, guilt, isolation, and twisting the truth. He cannot overpower God. He cannot undo what Jesus did on the cross. He cannot take away God’s love. He cannot take away God’s forgiveness. He cannot take away the sacrifice Jesus already made for you.
Because the truth is, the battle has already been won through Jesus Christ. When Jesus gave His life on the cross and rose again, He defeated sin, death, shame, condemnation, and the power of the enemy. Satan is not fighting from a place of victory. He is fighting from defeat. He is already a defeated foe, and that is why he works so hard to deceive you. He knows he cannot win, so he tries to make you forget that Jesus already did.
That’s why he tries to make you believe you are not worthy enough to receive what Jesus already paid for. He tries to make you hide in shame instead of repent. He tries to make you run from God instead of running toward Him. He tries to make your sin feel like your identity instead of something Jesus already died to free you from.
But that is not the voice of God. God convicts to redirect you. The enemy condemns to destroy you. God brings you back. The enemy tries to make you hide. God reminds you who you are in Christ. The enemy tries to make you believe your flesh, your sin, and your past are all you’ll ever be.
But Jesus already won. The cross already settled it. The resurrection already proved it. The enemy’s power is limited, temporary, and defeated. He can lie, accuse, tempt, and distract, but he cannot undo the blood of Jesus. He cannot separate you from God’s love. He cannot erase what Christ already finished.
And that is exactly why you have to stay close to God, stay in His Word, listen to the Holy Spirit, and use discernment. Because not every voice that sounds spiritual is from God. Not every thought that sounds convicting is actually conviction. Sometimes it is condemnation disguised as conviction. Sometimes it is shame disguised as accountability. Sometimes it is fear disguised as wisdom. And that is exactly how the enemy works. His greatest weapon is not power. It is deception. He is already defeated, so all he can do is try to convince you to live like he isn’t.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…”
Romans 8:1
But you never have to earn love or forgiveness from God. It is already given to you.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
The only way you don’t receive God’s love and forgiveness is by your own free will, which would be denying God, turning away from Him, rejecting Him, or not seeking a relationship with Him.
Which means when you have sinned, you don’t run from God. You run toward Him. You repent. You take responsibility. You continue to seek God in all things you do. You continue to grow your relationship with Him.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…”
1 John 1:9
And over time, something starts to change. You stop only focusing on what you’re trying not to do, and you start focusing on who God is making you into. Naturally, you start to gravitate away from the desires of the flesh and more toward aligning with the desires of your soul and the only keeper of it, God.
Not because you are doing it all by your own strength, or will (That is nearly impossible to do all the time, consistently), but because Christ is transforming you from the inside out. The goal was never just to sin less. The goal is to become more like Christ.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
Romans 8:29
The Christian walk is not about becoming perfect overnight. It is about surrendering daily. Every time you choose God’s will over the desires of the flesh, you become a little more aligned with who God created you to be.
Not because you earned His love. Not because you earned His forgiveness. But because through Christ, you finally stop running from both.
And in that surrender, you find what the flesh could never give you: true freedom. Not freedom to sin. Freedom from it.
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
John 8:36