Ok, so the first week of Four Weeks with God and Your Neighbor challenges me to identify specific sins and to create a plan of action. If a certain circumstance occurs that tempts me to sin, then I will respond in a specific way. My response to this assignment looks like this, "If I am confronted with someone else's conflict, I will refuse to draw conclusions based on the presenting person's words. Instead I will withhold judgment and encourage the speaker to go back to the person with whom they are in conflict and try to resolve the issues between the two of them."

What sin am I putting off? Listening to a bad report and impulsively judging another's heart and behavior. What behavior am I putting on? Refusing to enter into another's conflict and challenging the people involved to resolve their differences biblically rather than adding fire to the conflict with gossip.

Just slapping on a new behavior will not result in a new heart. I am convinced that I must identify the part of my worldview that is flawed before I will see genuine behavioral change in any area of my life.

Breaking sin habits is tedious and hard. Sometimes it's even boring because there is no magic pill. I must follow my choice to change with action. But the harder part is digging into the root of the thinking that drives my actions.

I must identify and admit the pleasure I gain from this particular sin.

In 2 Timothy 3:1-4 is a list of sins of the "last days." Paul, the writer of this passage ends this list with identifying the root thinking that drives these sins: People are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Again, ouch. It's painful to admit that when faced with a choice to either obey (reflect Christ) or disobey (sin), pleasure derived from the sin drives my choice in areas unchanged by Christ's presence. My mind quickly sorts through my options and weighs my behavior on my pleasure scales. If I am to really see change, I must be honest about why I choose evil.

This exercise is getting painful.

In His Grip,
Sharon