Victory Over Sin?

Dear Victorious,

I read your post the other day quoting 1 John 3 - saying that if Christ is in us we can't continue to sin. So if a Christian is still struggling with a particular sin - what should he or she do about it?

Charles W. - Wilmingonton, DE

Dear Charles,

Often people tell me they struggle with this or that. I usually think to myself, "That's a good thing! You should struggle against it; that is much better than just embracing it." True Christ-followers are grieved by their own sin and want to resolve it. Here's how they should go about doing that.

1. Seek the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer and through God's Word. (A wise man once told me that it is impossible to be transformed by something with which I am not familiar.)
2. Stay away from tempting situations. Actively flee temptation.
3. Seek the help of the body of Christ. Be open to their willingness to hold you accountable and to pray for you.

For the most part, our human nature seems only ready to embrace the second point above. We try to resist temptation on our own - which almost never works. We are too lazy to pray and read our Bibles, and too proud to air our dirty laundry in the church. However, if we could learn to overcome those two things, we could stop struggling with a particular sin pattern in our life ... and find true victory over it instead.