Why no spiritual progress?

When Jesus met a man waiting for healing for 38 years, He asked him whether he (really) wanted to be healed. The man replied that there was nobody to help him. We wonder why he was waiting year after year for someone to help him and why he didn't do anything at least when he realised that it was not working out.

Think of a Christian who is caught in a sinful habit – hot temper, worry, laziness, sexual lust, overspending, overeating, drinking, anything – who is the same year after year. What excuses can he give? His parents were like that, he had a bad childhood, his wife is very troublesome, his work pressure is too much, etc.? His problem is that he is not owning up his own responsibility for his sins. He thinks his sins are forced on him by other people and circumstances. He considers himself a victim of his circumstances, and even blames God for not giving him victory.

Of course, sometimes our sins are a response to the provocations coming from outside. But we are badly mistaken if we think that it is those who provoke us who are responsible for our sins. Then we keep on praying and waiting for them to change. It is no wonder then that victory eludes us.

Isn't sin a choice we make? A temptation can come to us from the desires we have in our fallen nature, or because of the provocations from outside. But it doesn't mean that when that happens we have no other option but to yield to it. No, we have another option, to deny the temptation and do what is pleasing to God. Jesus too was tempted like us, yet He did not sin even once (He.4:15).

But perhaps we wanted to overcome the temptation but we lacked spiritual strength to resist sin. Perhaps we have been yielding to such temptations before and that has become our habit, or we fall before we even realise we are facing a temptation!

Then why don't we rush to the Lord and ask for help? God is waiting to forgive us when we confess our sins and to help us with overcoming (1Jn.1:9;He.4:16).

But perhaps we are so convinced that it is the fault of other people, circumstances or even the devil that we are sinning, that we aren't really seeking to overcome. Perhaps we are not really eager to stop sinning. We may have assumed that certain sins are part of our nature and that we can't really change. We may be misusing God's provision for forgiveness. We may have prayed and handed over the matter to God to take away our sinful tendencies and we are beginning to lose hope that He will.

A lack of desire to overcome sin is usually proof that a person has not experienced being born again (1Jn.3:8,9). Those who are born again have been given a new heart that hates sin like God does, and so they will do whatever they can to stop sinning (1Jn.2:1). What will they do when their best efforts are failing? They know that God has promised victory (Ro.6:14). With that confidence they will cry out to God till they get victory. Won't it be sad if Jesus asks us, "Do you really want victory?"