If A Sheep Fall In The Mud
As a new Christian I used to struggle with such questions as, “Do we just go ahead and fall into sin because we have Scriptural promises of forgiveness and liberty in Christ, or do we attempt to live a legalistic lifestyle trying to achieve perfection?”
A professor at Bible college helped answer that with the following illustration. He explained that if a pig falls in the mud, it lies there and wallows in it because that is according to its nature. But if a sheep falls in the mud, it gets out, because it is contrary to its nature to lie there and wallow in it. So too, a nonbeliever may wallow and continue in sin without any remorse or guilt, while believers who fall into sin will repent and come out of it as God’s Spirit deals with them and speaks to their hearts.
If you continue in willful sin, then you had better re-evaluate your relationship with the Lord. I’m not talking about making mistakes. But if you have a pattern of continual, willful sin, and you know that it’s wrong before the Lord, then you had better re-examine your commitment to the Lord. First John 3:6 says –– No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.
Excerpted from Bill Rudge’s book, Reaching Your Maximum Potential in Christ
