Besetting Sins

Do you have "besetting sins?" If you know what "besetting sin" is, you definitely grew up in a traditional style church. In today’s seeker sensitive churches you would not hear the term "besetting sin." You would probably hear that you are entangled in some kind of compulsion or habituated sin pattern. A person with a "besetting sin" in a modern evangelical church would probably be described as "struggling with sin" or is in need of a "recovery" process.

No matter how one describes this pattern, one with “besetting sins” has a serious love deficiency.

So what is a "besetting sin?" The term comes from the King James Bible where an individual has developed a habitual way of sinning.

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2

When I think of my own "besetting sins" I prefer to describe them as "when, where and how Bud’s love regularly stops." My love stops in very predictable ways, in very predictable places and in very predictable styles. I am a creature of habits and some of my habits consistently stop love. These constant interruptions of love are caused by my "besetting sins."

There is no shortage of theories about how to deal with one’s "besetting sins." I have tried nearly all the theories and I have found that only one works. Paul called it the faith, hope and love process in I Corinthians 13. He concludes chapter 13 with these words:

He begins chapter 14 with these words: “Pursue love”

Using a computer metaphor, think of faith, hope and love as the internal operating system of visible Christian justice or love. Think of Christian justice as a person behaving with continuous love in the world moment by moment without interruption. Only continuous justice (love) glorifies God or makes God visible in the world. When our internal justice operating system of faith, hope and love stops in us, justice stops flowing from us.

Think of your "besetting sins" as an interruption in your internal justice system of faith, hope and love. As soon as you recognize that the internal justice system is down, you know that a "besetting sin" has crashed your internal system again and your external justice has stopped or will soon stop.

When this happens you need to restart or reset the system. Working with the stoppage on your own will not help.

When I first began using computers I nearly had heart failure when the operating system stopped functioning. I literally thought I had ruined my computer every time it "froze."

Over time I learned that there are times when one must restart or reset the computer. Nothing else will help. Most computer problems are solved by simply beginning again. The same is true in the spiritual realm. Besetting sins don’t destroy our God installed internal justice system. They interrupt it.

When my besetting sin stops my justice (continuous love) I must recognize it (confess) since I am the one looking at my internal "screen" only God and I see. When I become aware of this, I must personally hit "rese" or "restart" believing the system will always come back online since God Himself installed it. This seems simple, but it is truly remarkable how quickly we can personally diagnose and defeat our besetting sin if we will simply reset to faith, hope and love in Jesus.

I enjoy using the words receive, rejoice and release to describe the internal justice system God has installed in me. I use these words in the place of faith, hope and love. I do this because words have a tendency to be abused and misused over time. I think faith, hope and love needed a rest in my vocabulary because I had heard them so much in sermons I had devalued them. Receive, rejoice and release are faith, hope and love.

When I recognize a "besetting sin" has set me on the path to love stopping, I admit it and hit my internal reset. With simple words like "Jesus, you are welcome here," or "Thine only," I reset to receiving mode (faith). I recognize Jesus as my only restart or reset point because "without Him I can do nothing." I know my Christian justice system is back up and running when my internal rejoicing (hope) is back online. Visible releasing (love) will let others know that the just and loving Bud is back online. Believe me, they are relieved when my justice towards them returns!

Never worry about this God installed internal justice system being permanently ruined byyour "besetting sins." There are no sin viruses that can shut down God’s love for you or in you. When your justice towards God or others is interrupted by your "besetting sin," remember this: When "beset" by sin hit "reset" to Jesus. It works. It is called abiding.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
I John 1:9