Filling the Holes...

"Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued
I must not only labour to overcome it,
but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it,
and he must become to me more than vile lust had been;
that his sweetness, power, life may be there." -- The Valley of Vision


How true! Something the Lord has been showing me recently is that there is a whole different side of sin that we rarely think about, one that I would say is even darker than the obvious. Of course, sins are sins. Pretty straight-forward.

But what about those little "pet sins" we all hold? I say "little," but we all know how big they really are and the havoc they can wreak in our lives. These sins, whatever they may be, are wrong simply because the Bible says so, right? Whether they fall in the realm of arrogance, lying, gossip, laziness, purity, addictions, or any other variety, the Bible tells us these are sins and that they are wrong. That is good enough, right? However, what are the indirect implications of these sins?

When I hold onto one of these sins, when I find my comfort in that sin, I am not holding onto Christ, and I am not finding my comfort in Him. As dark as these sins are in and of themselves, and as much pain they already cause, how much worse it is that by having these habitual sins we're in essence replacing our Savior!

I have struggled for so long to find that midway point between letting sin go unchecked and trying to fix things myself. I've heard "give it to God." You know, I've even taught about "giving it to God." Rely on His strength. When we try to fix our sins ourself, we just make things worse or become arrogant. I've known this in my head, but in my heart, I've desperately searched for how to actually do this. When I stop trying to do things myself, sin goes unchecked. When I resolve to remove the sin, I do it my own way and fail. I want to give it to God...but how?

This passage from Valley of Vision that I read today put it in a way that I've never really thought before. It's not just removing the sin that's the problem. That just leaves a vacuum. Sure, I can remove a sin from my life, and all by myself. But it's only temporary, because there is a huge hole left that my sin is all-to-eager to fill back up for me. It's not a matter of will-power. It's where I go to fill the holes in my life.

Removing a sin makes no difference if I never fill that hole with something that will last and transform. That hole must be filled with Christ. It takes thought. Instead of just saying, "this sin is bad. I should stop doing this sin," I need to think, "why do I commit this sin? what am I trying to accomplish with this sin?" That identifies one of the "holes" in my life. Once that hole is identified, it needs to be filled with Christ.

Of course, I know this is not as easy as it sounds at first, and I will have to rely on Him as I try to make this radical readjustment in the way I look at sin. It'll take a change in habits. One habit replaced with another, a righteous habit.

This may not seem that profound to some of you, and that's awesome. But for me, this is a brand-new realization and understanding. Isn't it amazing how God works to show us these things?