When Sin Loses Its Appeal
I’ll never forget a quote by a guy who joined Gateway’s recovery group. He had just found faith earlier that year and had been growing to experience this moment by moment life with God. When asked what he hoped to get out of the group, he said, “I’m here because this thing I’m experiencing with God right now is so good, I just don’t want to do anything to screw it up!”
Too often we focus on “not doing” this or that—it doesn’t work. The more long-term successful approach is to focus on staying connected and responsive to God, and when we stick with it long enough, we start to experience something better that replaces the old behavior until it’s not such a struggle. Paul put it this way, “Walk by the Spirit, and you won’t carry out the desires of the [old nature].” Galatians 5:16 Frank Laubach, who I’ve told the history of in my last post, wrote this in his journal after the first five months of seeking moment by moment life with God:
“Oh, this thing of keeping in constant touch with God, of making Him the object of my thought and the companion of my conversations, is the most amazing thing I ever ran across. It is working. I cannot do it even half of a day – not yet, but I believe I shall be doing it some day for the entire day. It is a matter of acquiring a new habit of thought. Now I like the Lord’s presence so much that when for a half hour or so He slips out of mind – as He does many times a day – I feel as though I deserted Him, and as though I had lost something very precious in my life.” – Frank Laubach, May 14, 1930
I can now believe him, but this was not always the case for me. For many years, my spiritual life felt dutiful. I would say it was the right way to live, or a good way to live, but not amazing, life-giving, exciting, thrilling, fulfilling like nothing else. Now I can say that because that’s been my experience as I’ve stayed more and more connected in a daily, hourly, sometimes even moment to moment way. When we learn to stay connected and responsive, sin begins to lose its appeal. We sin (go against God’s will or ways) because we think it will get us something we want or need, but the more you stay connected and experience the fulfilling inner life God’s Spirit produces, you selfishly don’t want to sin because you don’t want to ruin something much better with something less satisfying. That’s when lasting change takes root.
What a much better way to overcome our sin nature than trying to will it away or by guilt. I passed on a bunch of R rated movies today because I have no desire to distance myself from God. It is not even difficult when you see things with this perspective. And today is a very difficult day of loneliness and desire for affection. I thank Jesus and you John for bringing such great tools to us who have always wanted to live as we believe.
Comment by kengman — November 5, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
Hey John - some GREAT STUFF all throughout this site. Just wanted to say I just joined up for the 60-60 recently - I heard you at a couple recent WCA events (Ldrshp Summit & Group Life Conf) - I am doing a “church plant residency” right now and just really trying to seek what God’s next steps for me are. This has been an awesome challenge for me - I started about 10 days ago (my goal was to start where my 60 days would end Right at CHRISTMAS DAY - I thought how cool to give a totally new perspective on this wonderful event)
Anyway I am also sharing this info on my own personal blog and asking people to keep up with me - so this “online community” you all have provided is wonderful. There are also a couple people in my community group starting the challenge as well so it is exciting.
The main reason I wanted to share was to also tell of the encouraging level of this on another front. I used to be a campus minister at NC State Univ for 7 years and I have a great relationship with the young man who took my place. We were talking about this 60-60 deal and he got excited about sharing with his students. Just this past Tuesday evening (that is when they have their large group meeting) he brought me in via satellite you might say - I did a surprise ichat with the group and told them about what I am doing and challenged them to join it. I am excited to see a group of college kids get on fire about “staying connected” throughout their day with God.
The new minister set up a blog on their own website for the kids to build on online community - feel free to check it out as I am sure it could be a source of encouragement to you to know how instrumental you have been by allowing God to use this program to challenge and inspire others. Being their minister for 7 years it has encouraged me to see their heartfelt desire to run with this new challenge. So if you get a minute to check it out feel free and THANKS for letting God use you and your team in might ways.
The online community for Campus Christian Fellowship @ NCSU can be found here. http://ccf-ncsu.org/6060/
Comment by NealA — November 6, 2008 @ 12:05 pm