Overcoming sin requires the Mercy of God. And surrender.
How many times have I asked God to take away a certain sin only to have it resurface over and over? Too many times I’ve gone to the Sacrament of Confession to ask God’s continued forgiveness for a sin over confessed a thousand times before. Standing outside the confessional and honestly, even after receiving absolution, I’ve found myself condemning myself for that sin. Why am I not strong enough to overcome and cast it aside?
Like St. Paul, I’ve asked God to remove the thorn from my side. But, it always seems like within short order I would fall back into that sin again, over and over. Then I would cry out to God asking why God won’t remove this from me”?
It is a futile exercise in which one will never succeed in overcoming your own sin through your own effort. There is truly only one way to rid yourself of the sin you struggle with, it is by turning to the transforming power of God. The power poured out through the Mercy of the Cross of Christ.
I’ve come to see the reason God wouldn’t remove this sin from my heart is not because He desires to punish me or make me fight harder against it. He didn’t remove it sooner because even when I was asking Him to take it away, I was really still relying upon my own strength and not the power of God.
“You were counting too much on yourself and too little on Me.” Divine Mercy in my soul # 1087
Jesus is the only means by which you can overcome your sin. Turning to Him for the Mercy to eliminate sin from your life requires total trust in Him and a complete surrender to Him.
I fought and fought while I begged but God wasn’t looking for my strength or fortitude against that or any other sin. He wanted me to see that I couldn’t do it on my own – He was looking for surrender. He was looking for me to stop fighting and let Him remove it.
What is it that you struggle with each and every day? Whatever your sin may be, you can overcome it, but only by relying on Mercy and the purifying power of the Cross. This is done by fixing your eyes on Jesus and relying on Him alone. Your responsibility is to turn to Christ. His action is one of purification. Resolve to abandon yourself to Him. He will lift this burden in your life when you surrender.
“Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; 9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-9