Where Do We Turn

We have all heard pastors and others say many times you must turn away from your sin. Sometimes they add you must turn 180 degrees and go the other way. Have you ever wondered what exactly they were telling you to do?

We understand they are talking about stopping the sin, but where do we turn? What is 180 degrees from where we are? Some of these common sayings seem more like a cliché than spiritual guidance. If we continue to fall into the “sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1)”, how do we know what is 180 degrees from it?

I believe the problem comes from trying to turn away from sin with our own wisdom. We are in a spiritual battle all the time. Satan uses subtle tactics to keep us off balance. We are not strong enough to fight this battle on our own. The good news is we have help. Jesus called Him our Advocate, the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ parting speech to His disciples, He told them of this coming Advocate.

John 16:15-17, 25:26

¹⁵ “If you love Me, keep My commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.

²⁵ “All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”.

I believe we don’t teach enough about spiritual warfare. Most Christians seem to think they are in this battle alone. Most do not recognize the enemy’s voice because it is so subtle. When I was growing up, there was a common cartoon idea that showed a person with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. They would be whispering in each ear the right thing or the wrong thing to do. The reality we live in is not far from that fictional idea. The two voices, the Holy Spirit and Satan, are always there talking. We need to learn to discern which voice is truth.

I have learned the tone of the message is the indicator. Does the thought match up with Biblical principles? Remember, Jesus said, ¹⁵ “If you love Me, keep My commands.” Is the thought self-focused or other focused. Are you thinking you can “get away” with this with no one knowing. Can you feel the Holy Spirit pricking your conscience?

When you do fall into sin and seek forgiveness, is the tone one of loving correction or condemnation. Do you hear “Yes you fell again, but you can do better with My help”. Or do you hear “You are a loser and will never live up to those standards. You are just pretending to be a Christian”. Who the voice is coming from is obvious if you think about it. Is it loving or not?

Here is a story I heard when I was young.

There was a man who walked to work every day. One day as he was walking down the street he always walked on, then he fell into a hole someone dug. The next day he walked down the same street and, without paying attention, fell into the hole again. The next day when he came to the hole he walked around it. After that he decided to take a different path to walk to work. He did not fall into the hole or have to go around it again.

Remembering that story made me think of the passage in Matthew 7:13-14-

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

So, where should we turn to help us turn away from sin? We need to turn to the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us stay on the narrow path. He can help us understand the subtle “triggers” our enemy uses to get us on the path that leads to the “hole” we can fall into. When the trigger is presented, the Holy Spirit will be there also. We need to ask Him if this is a trigger. If we recognize the “triggers” that lead us down the wrong path, it is less likely we will fall to the temptations.

Triggers can be places we go, people we spend time with, what we spend our time doing, etc. Let’s say the sin problem is gossip. If you spend time around people that gossip, you can easily be tempted to join in. If your sin problem is harsh language, spending time with people that talk like that will draw you in.

One of Satan’s tools is distraction. If he can get us to focus on meaningless things, even if they are not sinful, we will not have time to do what the Lord wants us to do. In James 4:17 it says,

¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

What we spend our time doing is crucial in our ability to stay focused. When we stop doing something, our time will be filled with another activity. Think about spending hours scrolling on our phone or computer. What other Kingdom focused things could we be doing instead. In my own life, I used to be a big fan of Star Trek and then Star Wars. I believe we have every movie they ever made of those series. The Holy Spirit has helped me find Kingdom focused material to replace them.

The Holy Spirit lives in every believer. Take time to “listen” to His guidance and as the song says, “The things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His wonderful grace”.