I try not to drink or fornicate, I still end up doing it, and I really need help
Question:
Hello!
I have a question about getting away from sin. I have been struggling for a few years in certain areas and I have come to the point where I am ready to change but at the same time as much as I try not to drink or fornicate, I still end up doing it, and I really need help.
Answer:
"And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts" (Romans 13:11-14).
There are two halves to being a Christian. One is dealing with avoiding sin ("cast off the works of darkness"), but there is an equally essential part: learning to do what is right ("put on the armor of light"). If all you do is work at removing sin from your life, you will only be temporarily successful. "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation" (Matthew 12:43-45). Emptying your life of sin leaves an empty spot just waiting to be filled by something. If you do nothing else, it will be filled by sin -- not by the same amount of sin that used to be there, but more sin than was there originally. Therefore, to approach being a Christian successfully, you need to fill up your life with righteous things, so that you don't have time for sin ("make no provision for the flesh").
So, get busy doing the good things in life. Be determined that sin no longer has a place in your life. That means you cannot approach this as only sinning "a little bit." There is no compromising with sin. "Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil" (I Thessalonians 5:20-21).
Along with this, you will have to examine your current friendships. "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4). If your friends are sinning, they will pull you back into sin. They won't understand that you want to change. They see nothing wrong with what they are doing, so they will pressure you to join them. "Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits"" (I Corinthians 15:33). You need godly friends who will pull you up and away from sin.