Has sin ever caused you to hate yourself in some way?         

Feel free to join me as I mentally raise my hand.            

If you have ever sinned and have acknowledged your sin, it’s natural to feel bad about your choices.          

For those who really seek God; who want to delight His heart and show Him love, the moment of accepting that they’ve wronged Him in some way, can quickly turn into a bloody war in their mind.        

That love for God, will turn that feeling of guilt into hating yourself.      

Thoughts like inflamed bullets, pierce the heart; screaming things such as:          

 

“You know better, and you still failed!”    

 

“How could God be close to you when you’re obviously so entrapped in sin?”              

 

“This is just who you are; you never actually changed and you never will!”               

Does this sound like what’s going on in your mind?          

If so, I just wanted you to know that you are certainly nowhere near alone!                

You should also know that the brutal attack in your mind is an indication of true love for Jesus!            

If you didn’t love God so much and seek to delight His heart, the devil would not try so hard to deconstruct you mentally and emotionally; nor would he be so intent on deforming your identity.             

Those who don’t care about God, just feel guilty for their wrong for a moment, because of their conscience; however, they dodge long-lasting guilt by excusing their wrongs or blaming someone else.               

You taking full responsibility and acknowledging how your actions may affect God or His creation, is such a beautiful gift from the Holy Spirit!               

Your light shines brighter than ever; though, this captures the attention of the devil that much more.         

A bright light is easy to see in dark surroundings and the enemy wants nothing more than to extinguish it.         

What does He do?            

Since your heart is for God in your good decisions and bad decisions, the only thing the devil can do is make you believe that you are hopelessly bad and unable to love God as you long to.           

Therefore, causing you to believe that the intense self-hatred is the result of being a terrible follower of Christ!         

This is not so!                 

Remember, the devil is only pounding you with self-hating thoughts to extinguish you, because he knows that you will listen due to your immense love for Jesus and longing to do right by Him.                    

That sure is easy to say right now, but in the moment of being mentally pummeled with shame and hopelessness, I can’t seem to consider it a spiritual attack.              

I just think I’m just too broken to be truly restored.             

Honestly, I keep doing what I don’t believe is good for me to do and what I want to do, I fail to do.          

Then come the crippling thoughts that I am a helpless cause and that I will never be able to overcome my sin.       

These thoughts keep you in your head and away from God and people, so the devil gets what he wanted…             

Your light, diminished.           

If you are experiencing this, please don’t stop reading!             

I want to show you  

How to Stop Hating Yourself Because of Sin!               

To begin, I want you to understand something about sin.          

Sin is the result of trusting in your own feelings above trusting God.               

At its core, sin is driven by the fear of trusting a God you can’t experience with your flesh, so you instead trust whatever your flesh communicates to you.              

Your flesh is how your body experiences, understands and processes its carnal surroundings.              

So, ultimately…            

sin starts with your body.           

Does that mean that we can blame our body for the sins we commit?          

Of course not!           

Your body is a vessel created by God to be as a temple for the Holy Spirit.              

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”               

‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.           

You are responsible for your body!         

Furthermore, you are responsible for leading your body, not letting your body lead you.                   

The truth is, your body doesn’t even know what sin is!           

The body can be a weapon for good or bad, but it doesn’t know the difference between the two.            

Our bodies are doing what they were created to do but they need our understanding to lead them and remind them what’s right for that moment!               

When we lead our bodies instead of let them lead us, we can actually enjoy everything that God gives us, without trusting in those things.                     

Our flesh is inclined towards whatever gives a pleasant sensation, which allows us to enjoy creation.             

Yet, if you continually follow pleasure, it will eventually bring you to destruction.              

Wisdom allows us to override our flesh and make the difficult decisions that lead to life!                  

For example, your flesh will lean towards consuming sugar, since it quickly goes into the bloodstream and delights our tastebuds; however, if you choose sugar all the time, your body shuts down.                 

This is because sugar is meant to be enjoyed not served as a master.              

These kind of decisions, your body is unable to make.                    

You are called to lead your body to the best and most life-giving decisions!                 

This looks like choosing to love God and love each other, instead of loving our flesh and the feelings it gives when we follow it…                   

When we do this, it brings glory to God!              

“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.”

‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

You can stop hating yourself because of sin!           

Sin does begin with the desires of the body, but you have the power to control whether or not the body dictates your actions.            

Instead of hating the fact that sin is so natural for you, remember that sin is natural for your body, but you are able to lead your body to make the decisions that are best!        

This is called self control.               

Self control is a fruit of the Spirit, which means that it is produced as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.                                    

So, we need the LORD in order to have self control and lead the body well!               

God can fill your soul with all it needs, in order to lead your body to do all things with love.                

Then, sin won’t be a problem anymore!           

Your body won’t be able to pull you to sin, because your needs will already be met by Jesus!              

So, stop hating yourself because of sin!                

Instead, rejoice in the LORD’s grace and trust Him to give you the self control necessary to lead your body to do all things with love!