Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

Section II: Tools from the Dark Side

S in is clearly at the root of man’s fall from God's perfect design for us. But Jesus dealt with the sin problem by taking our sins upon Himself on the cross. He dealt with past sins, present sins and future sins. There is no more sacrifice needed to free us from sin. So why do we continue to struggle? Why do we continue to lose our freedom? There are consequences of sin that keep haunting us. Even though we are free from the guilt of sin, there are behavioral patterns that are destructive in nature. It is the need to self-protect from getting hurt again. We keep trying to cover-up our weaknesses. We want to blame our problems on others. At the core of these self-protective actions are shame and fear. These are what I call tools from the dark side. They are sins leftovers. They are unhealthy ways of dealing with each other. This world has taught us how to have unhealthy relationships. What do you do when someone won’t do what you want them to do? How do you get someone to stop hurting you? How come people won’t give me the attention I need? I want people to like me, why don’t they? There are godly answers and strategies for all of these questions and every life situation. But we don’t always turn to Him for the answers. His way is often the hard way. His way usually takes more time. We don’t always get the immediate response we yearn for. So, we use tools that are familiar to us. We us tools that have been used against us. They are tools issued from the kingdom of darkness. They do get results, but