This question was posed to me today, “can we sin to grow in Christ”? You might be asking yourself what I am talking about. As sinners are we allowed to continue our sin while at the same time growing in Christ? Yes and no. We are always going to sin regardless of how hard we try to avoid it. We will continue to sin and will continue to be forgiven if we ask for forgiveness.
Our journeys are all different, and our sins are as well. The example laid out to me today was that of a drug user. Picture someone on a drug such as heroin. This addict started their journey down the path of following Jesus. For the addict to wean themselves off of drugs, they started smoking pot instead. They continued to grow in their journey until they fought off the addition.
My answer was simple. We should not fix a sin with sin. Whether you think doing drugs is a sin or not, this is just the illustration presented to me. We are all going to sin. The addict should not use sin as a crutch to get closer to God. What the addict should do is try to remove their sin from their life while pursuing the Lord. They may fall and rebound, but their intent is in the right place.
If we sin to grow in Christ, we are evading responsibility.
We make mistakes every day. We spill our coffee, forget our keys in the car and miss an appointment. What makes a sin different from an error is that it is a sin is a choice. We choose to sin. It is just that simple.
When we sin to grow in Christ, we are still committing a sin. There is no way around it. It is almost worse when you are acutely aware of what you are doing is wrong and continue. This is not a shame or judgment.
We all have our problems. We cannot hide our sins. They must be tackled head on and dealt with according to the scriptures.
James 4:17 NASB “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
Ultimately God will be the judge of our sins. We cannot sin to grow in Christ. We cannot continue to do things that separate us from God. By continuing to sin to grow in Christ, we build more sin into our life instead of cutting it out of our life. It is harder to cut out the sin, but it makes us a better, happier person in the long run.