Ever play with magnets as a kid? They’re fascinating. Some repel as if a real, physical object holds them apart while others attract and become near inseparable. When it comes to romantic analogies, we love magnets. We say things like “opposites attract” and “Johnny is a girl magnet.”
But magnetism describes sin just as aptly. For example, when it comes to that one particular temptation, I’m a magnet. I just can’t resist. It’s the same old sin that gets me every time, and I’m tired of fighting it.
What’s the point?
Hi, I’m Lauren Thell, author of Christian YA fiction and blogger for teens who are ready to exceed the world’s expectations!
In This Article
Weeds of Habitual sin: What’s your greatest weakness?
Everyone has habitual sin—a pet sin, that one thing that grabs your fancy like nothing else. You’ve purged it from your life only to have it come back with wicked vengeance. Maybe yours is swearing. Or road rage. Or pornography, or steamy romance novels, or lying, or gossiping, or homosexual tendencies, or … You get my drift.
Everyone has habitual sin—a pet sin, that one thing that grabs your fancy like nothing else.
The question here is not whether it’s wrong, because you know it is. But for you, the temptation is cosmic and one weak moment is all it takes for your resolve to crash to the ground and scatter like a jar of marbles.
And you’re tempted to leave the marbles where they lay. You can’t win, so why bother? No matter how many times you say you’re done, it returns. Maybe a week later, maybe four months, maybe not for another three years. No matter when it happens, you can bet it will come knocking again.
Before you decide to toss in the hat and give up, let me tell you a story.
Come Into My Garden …
I won’t claim to be a master gardener, but one thing I have tons of experience with is weeds. I have no trouble telling the weeds from the vegetables. That knowledge alone won’t stop the weeds from taking over, however. To do that, I must put on gloves, get down on my hands and knees, and pull anything that threatens to choke out the tomatoes and beans.
The weeds that grow in places I regularly tend come out much easier than those growing in more neglected areas.
I hate pulling weeds. Of all the tasks a gardener does on a regular basis, pulling weeds is most loathsome to me—even more so than turning the chicken manure in my compost pile.
But, alas, weeding is one of those necessary evils.
Years of pulling weeds, however, have led me to discover that the weeds that grow in places I regularly tend come out much easier than those growing in more neglected areas. No matter how tall they are, their roots just aren’t as deep. Often one good yank is all it takes. And they don’t return as quickly.
You don’t have to have all the answers.
but, hey, why not?
Bring me your questions about faith, life, God, the Bible… and I’ll help you find the answers.
Look Inside Your Heart …
The moral to this story is not complicated. When it comes to weeding sin out of your life, the areas that you clear most often come clean faster and last longer. Contrast that with what happens when sin is allowed to grow unhindered. Roots grow deeper, stalks become stronger, vines entwine themselves with other plants, choking the life from the good fruit.
Weeds like that don’t pull easily.
The only solution is to keep fighting. Each time you resist, it becomes easier to walk away. It doesn’t matter how far you’ve fallen. You might find yourself entangled in the weed of a “same old sin,” but the faster you pull it, the less it can choke you. Do it as many times as it takes.
Repent and return to Jesus seventy times a day if you must, but don’t give up!
More on Weeding Out That “Same Old Sin”
- Desiring God As Your Ultimate Source of Pleasure
- Look in the Mirror: Self-Examination for Christian Teens.
Great articles from DesiringGod.org:
Joy is having deep roots in Jesus. He will always help guard us and recognize the weeds in life. Thank you, Lauren!
God Bless.
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