⁵… He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit.

Does this mean that we are now clean of sin and will never sin again? When I look at my own life, I realise the answer is a loud and clear, “no”. There was no waving of the magic wand that makes us not sin again, even if we want to.

It would’ve been very nice if we had lost the ability to sin at the moment of conversion. Then we wouldn’t have struggled so much. But we know all too well that that didn’t happen! Sin is alive and growing well in the lives of many of God’s children.

Lizelle explains sin in a way that everybody can understand:

We moved my succulents. I know that when you do that, you will probably lose a few.

As I was pulling out the weeds that grew abundantly after the rains, I could hardly see the succulents.

Then I thought to myself, sin is like weeds. If you leave it and do nothing about it, it will take over your life.

How true this is. My lawn was the same. During the winter the winter grass grew so much that it took over the lawn. The kikuyu doesn’t like growing in the shade and nearly died. I urgently had to spray a selective herbicide to kill the winter grass so that the sun could shine on the lawn and the kikuyu gain strength to grow and the lawn become a lovely green again.

Weeds tend to be able to grow anywhere. Even without water. All the other plants struggle, but the weeds keep on growing.

That’s what sin does in your life. You don’t even have to look after it, it still grows strongly. The problem is that it takes us over completely and kills what God wants for our lives.

Look at people who allow sin to take over their lives. Not good. They are deeply unhappy.

We can’t just ignore the sin in our lives. Before we know it, sin will grow so much that it takes over completely. We must intentionally get rid of the sin in us. We must plan not to do it again and then we must get our hands on the equipment necessary to eradicate the sin.

And usually, when we read about sin, one or two things pop into your mind. It’s most probably those things that you have to work on. And don’t feel too terrible about it; we all struggle with sin in our lives.

Scripture
Titus 3:3-7

Reflection
Which sins are present in your life?
How can you get rid of them?
Who needs to help you?

Prayer
Father, You know how I struggle to get rid of this piece of sin in my life. I have tried so many times, but I just can’t do it. Please show me what I have to do differently. In Jesus’ Name, amen.