Don't Underestimate Your Sin

The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. - Proverbs 22:3

There is a critical miscalculation that we must not make in the fight of faith: underestimating our own sin. 

Consider this military analogy: if you underestimate the enemy and overestimate your own strength, you will know an attack is coming, but do little to prepare for it. If your calculations were correct, you’ll be fine. But if your strength was not as great as you had thought, and the enemy was greater than you accounted for, you will suffer an incredible loss. To ensure victory, your army should do the opposite: overestimate the power of the enemy and underestimate your own strength. You will mount up a strong defense, prepare for a hard battle, call for reinforcements, and maybe even launch a counter-attack. The result? More likely you will enjoy victory, because you took the threat seriously and prepared accordingly. 

In the fight of faith, we are tempted to underestimate our own sin. This miscalculation is the fruit of at least three underlying problems: 

1. Pride: We overestimate our own strength. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” We think we’ll be able to resist temptation when it comes, we think we’ll be clever, we think we will have the self-control to win in our own strength. 
2. Deception: Sin lies to us. Hebrews 3:13 says, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” We don’t recognize how our sin is destroying us until it is too late. Instead, we become blind and numb to our own depravity; sin creates its own protective blindspots. Sin deceives, and then it hardens. 
3. Unbelief: We underestimate our own sin because of a lack of faith in the gospel. Underneath pride and deception is the most dangerous problem: unbelief. We are prone to forget the gospel. When we forget the gospel our faith shrivels, and it leaves us vulnerable. This is the decisive failure that will result in ceasing the fight against sin and becoming complacent. We won't even show up for the fight. 

What is the solution to these underlying problems? How do we avoid underestimating our sin? 

We must remember the gospel! Meditating on Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross will humble us by revealing our weakness and need of salvation; we could not save ourselves! The gospel brings a sharp wake-up call of truth to replace the deception that sin creates; sin is serious, Christ had to DIE for our sin! And the gospel stirs and strengthens our faith as we meditate on the object of our faith; Hebrews 12:1-2 calls us to set our eyes on Jesus as we run the race. 

Faith in Christ’s salvation results in humility and gratitude. In that humility and the power of the gospel, you’ll be able to fight your sin. But you won’t fight lazily—you’ll fight strongly because you’ve rightly evaluated your sin, seeing it through the eyes of God’s holiness.  In that gratitude, you’ll rejoice in what God has done for you in Christ. You’ll have a superior joy in Jesus that drowns out the fleeting pleasures of sin. Backed by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can put your sin to death. Romans 8:13 promises, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” 

So practically here are some next steps:

1. Remember the gospel: Do whatever is necessary to remind yourself of the gospel. Your enemy is pride, deception, and unbelief! But the gospel will humble your heart, reorient your mind with truth, and strengthen your faith. Fight to remember the gospel. 
2. Expect difficulty: Don’t pridefully expect an easy fight. Rather, go into the fight against sin knowing that it will be hard, then you won’t be shocked when it is hard. Expect resistance, develop a wartime mentality! Prepare your mind for battle. Expect a hard, long, bloody fight. You must make war! 
3. Prepare in peacetime: When you are not currently under temptation and attack, take the opportunity to prepare for war. Memorize Scripture that can be accessed and used in time of temptation, as the antidote of truth against the poison of lies. Cultivate a superior affection for Jesus. Research your battlefield. Remove access to sin. Be ready for the fight so that when temptation comes, you can meet it with overwhelming firepower, and attain victory over your sin. 
4. Call out for help: If you rightly estimate the power of your sin, you will recognize your own insufficiency to fight it by yourself. First call out to God, He will come to your aid! Pray relentlessly. Establish accountability, ask for help from others. If you know a particular weekend or evening is going to be a time of temptation, text a few Christian friends to ask them to pray for you and check in with you. And if help isn't available (or no one texts back), be prepared to flee with a tactical retreat. 

Don’t underestimate your sin. It’s a deadly miscalculation. But also, never underestimate your Savior! Your temptation might be crushing and your sin might be devastating, but it is no match for the awesome power of His strength and grace. You cannot overestimate His power because you cannot measure infinity! He is MIGHTY to save. Jeremiah 20:11 says, “But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.” And the opposite is also true, the eternal glory of the cross of Christ will never fade. Fight to remember the gospel!