If we are to walk in the spirit so as not to sin, why do we still fall prey to sin? I try hard not to sin but I find that I keep slipping up, letting temptation get the better of me. I’m afraid God will just give up on me. What can I do?
As long as we live in this world we won’t be able to completely stop sinning. Our sin nature prevents it. 1 John 1:8 says “If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Christians who claim they no longer sin are deceiving themselves.
Paul described it this way. He said, “I know that no good thing lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing (Romans 7:18-19).
But God is able to separate the sin from the sinner (Romans 7:20). He is able to do this because by His once-for-all-time sacrifice for sin Jesus has made perfect forever we who are being made holy (Hebrews 10:12-14).
So if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) and He will never give up on us. He is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep of His pasture, and He promised never to lose any of us (John 6:39).
He said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).
When He said, “No one”, He meant no one, not even you.