God’s grace makes it possible for me to be accepted by God even when the things I have said and done are not pleasing to God and even though I don’t always love as Jesus loves.

That is not to say that God does not punish sin. He does. It doesn’t mean I can go on living in sin and pretend that my sin is acceptable to God. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Remember, God hates all sin. Sin is what cost God’s son his life. “He (Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2 NIV)

Why would we want to make excuses when we know the price of our sin? Why wouldn’t we want to tap into the power that is ours in Christ?

Jesus said it like this: “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34-36 NIV)

The Holy Spirit is ready to cleanse and deliver us from the power of sin. We can be free from sin, even those “so-called respectable sins” that we have attempted to tolerate.

Listen to what the Apostle Paul has to say: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Galatians 5:16 NIV)

To live by the Spirit means that I will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Instead, I have chosen to live under the controlling influence and daily dependence on the Spirit of God. Sin was once my master, but now, I have a new master.

Once, I was in Adam, meaning that I lived under the dominion of sin. Now, I am in Christ. A new day has dawned in my life. Now, the Spirit of God is at work in our lives, delivering us, cleansing us, healing us of the power of sin.

We will never reach perfection in this life, but that is no excuse to give up. We should see continual progress in our spiritual lives as we grow more and more in the likeness and image of God’s son.

If we really want to understand and address these subtle sins, we must be sure we are open to the influence of the Holy Spirit convincing us and convicting us of sin.

You may read Steve Greene’s blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or you can email him at [email protected].