Here are four ways that we can deal with our sin (wrongful attitudes and behaviors). 1) We can lie about our sin and deny it or ignore it. 2) We can justify it by offering many excuses and/or blaming. 3) We can embrace our sin and take pride in it. 4) We can acknowledge that it is morally wrong and persistently train to overcome it and stop doing it.

When you feel convicted of sin don’t flee. (Even when we deny it, sin’s a problem.) “Stand still and see the salvation of God.” Be “undone” like Isaiah in chapter six.

When self-examination leads to conviction, don’t run from it. (That’s what Adam and Eve did when they hid from God.) Instead, humbly embrace conviction and let it make you meek (pliable) and poor in spirit. Then begin the process of ongoing repentance and spiritual formation, continually seeking God’s mercy and growing in His grace.

As we examine ourselves, it’s important to note that our sinful attitudes and behaviors don’t “just happen.” We choose them. We cause them. We embrace them. We turn them into habits. When we become aware that we’re off track and not aligned with God and His will, we need to earnestly put aside those sinful attitudes and behaviors and practice moment-by-moment surrender to the risen Jesus so that we can be delivered and set free from them.

We aren’t called to eke out a lukewarm Christian lifestyle. Our calling is to perfection–to be ever pure and red-hot for Jesus. That means that we will never in this lifetime completely achieve it. We will always need to “press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” to “seek first the kingdom of God,” and to “pray without ceasing.” Run to the living Jesus, not away from Him!

Bad things mostly don’t just happen. They’re the consequences of wrongful human behavior. Christianity doesn’t happen by church attendance and sermon-hearing. It happens by believers being humbly led by the Spirit. (Romans 8:14.)

Repentance leads us to the disapproval of sin (both our sin and the sin of others). If you can’t kindly disapprove of a human behavior without being called a “hater,” freedom of speech is being threatened.

Life’s an obstacle course. If you don’t listen to the guidance of your conscience, you’ll continually collide with many of them.