Following God's commands and sinning less as a Christian

[DRDS]

Hey everyone I had a quick question regarding how true Christians live out of their faith. Is the faith that Christians have supposed to make following God's laws and or staying away from sin easier and able to come more naturally or does each Christian have to dig deep within themselves to keep God's laws almost as if they were trying to earn their salvation through sinning less and doing good works?

Because for me after so many years as a believer, I still find it very tough to keep from sinning and in order for me to do well at it to me it takes a ton of effort on my part. Now is that the same situation you all find yourselves in or does following God's commands and staying away from sin come very easy and natural to you all? Just wondering. Thanks as always for your time. GB.

[Byblos]

Hey everyone I had a quick question regarding how true Christians live out of their faith. Is the faith that Christians have supposed to make following God's laws and or staying away from sin easier and able to come more naturally or does each Christian have to dig deep within themselves to keep God's laws almost as if they were trying to earn their salvation through sinning less and doing good works?

Because for me after so many years as a believer, I still find it very tough to keep from sinning and in order for me to do well at it to me it takes a ton of effort on my part. Now is that the same situation you all find yourselves in or does following God's commands and staying away from sin come very easy and natural to you all? Just wondering. Thanks as always for your time. GB.

Not easy at all, and it wasn't meant to be. But one does get a greater appreciation for God's grace knowing we can never measure up and yet He loves us nonetheless.

[neo-x]

No one can be perfect. No one, period. The most righteous people you know, fall short on their own, if you expect that one day you will be without sin, that day is not gonna come untill we are with Christ in the new life. The question to ask is "Do I hate sin?" A true believer, a person who trusts in Christ, can not love sin as well. He may commit sin, perhaps a thousand times, but at the bottom of his heart he will know how horrible sin really is and how graceful Christ is. The tug of war should not be, how much do I sin against how much I don't, rather how much do I trust Christ? and how does it reflects on my attitude?.

Trust that all fall short on keeping the laws of God, we get by grace only. And his grace is abundant, more than we can ever imagine. If you are a child of God, God has declared you righteous, in Christ, who fulfilled the law in your place and for you, and thus redeemed you. All sin is sin, there is no less sin or more sin in the eyes of God. According to the requirements of the law, if you break the tiniest of the commandments and sin, you have broken all of them. The punishment for a lie is the same which is for idolatry. So focus on Christ as your redeemer, not on your weaknesses. You will have some for your entire life and some you may overcome with the grace of God. Nevertheless it will be a struggle till the end but the key is to trust Christ as your savior, not you saving yourself, you can't, He can.

[PaulSacramento]

Paul is a perfect example, even after seeing the Lord, even after the HS set upon him, even after being chosen by the Lord, he still struggled with sin.
As do we all.

[jlay]

Depends how we are defining perfect.

We are PERFECT (complete) in Christ. Positionally we are righteous, complete and perfect the moment we trust in Christ for salvation. Holy living comes at a cost. The cost is denying the dead man. Holy living is not so much living up to a standard, but instead living out our new identity in Christ. Jesus warned people to count the cost of 'following' Him and becoming a disciple.

Paul goes to exhaustive lenghts in the first three chapters of Ephesians to spell out to the believer who they ARE in Christ. In chapter four Paul then says, I "therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.." (Eph 4:1)

This is about the heavenly reality becoming a temporal reality. The believer has all blessings in heavenly places. (Eph 1:3) Perfection positionally now can be made manifest. (Eph 4:12,13) Paul is basically saying, "this is who you are so why not live like it?"

KJV for emphasis on perfection as maturity,
" For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"