As Christians it seems that a large part of how to live your life is to avoid sins. We know that it is impossible for us to be completely innocent, but I still think that id definitely takes an active effort to avoid them.

In my own life I have always had trouble avoiding things that I know are sinful. I am better now at avoiding the easy ones. Namely inappropriate media, drinking too much, swearing, taking advantage of people etc, but I always finding myself committing sins. The confusing thing is that I commit them without actively realizing what I am doing is wrong until after the fact. Even within the context of doing something I consider to be honoring the Lord, I have managed to sin.

For example, I am one to get involved in politics. I strongly support those politicians who I think will make our country and laws more in line with what Jesus has taught us and sometimes work to help them get elected. But I often find in retrospect that my support, while outwardly is for helping to end truly evil things like abortion and persecution of Christians, is often petty and selfish. I find myself too often reveling in my opponents defeat as if their sadness justifies my work, or when we lose I find myself to be bitter and jealous and unable to commend my opponents even when they do a good job or have good ideas.

Even when sharing my faith with others who do not share the same beliefs, which I think is a righteous endeavor, I can become irritable and more concerned with exposing the other as a fool and a hypocrite rather than to share with him or her the love and comfort the Bible brings to me.

The thing that worries me is not that I have committed these sins, as I have long ago discovered that I am not, and never will be perfect, but that I have failed to recognize them until I am out of the moment and reflect on it later. Obviously there are other times that I act like this, but these examples should suffice for this conversation. Anyone else struggling with this or have any advice on how to recognize these traits and reduce them as much as possible?

How do you see Matthew 18:6-9? Many times i have had brothers or sisters tell me, 'my job causes me to sin' or 'the place i like to go causes me to sin' or 'this activity leads to sin.'

But when i say 'leave that job, or don't go to that place or do that activity' - they tell me they have to do it!

Of course the job is perhaps the hardest to change, if we have a family and financial commitments? Don't we also though have a much larger commitment to our Lord and to lead our families in a God-like manner?

I guess you have to go back to basics - we all do. That political opponent is also a human being. Either a saved believer or someone needing saving. That person of another faith or no faith, is also a human being.

How are we meant to act? Not just because the bible says so, but because as we grow in faith, it becomes more natural.

With a believer, we are to have love amoung ourselves, so the world can see the difference. We are to love them, as Christ loves us. An enormous target. We are never to doubt their faith - whatever their political leanings. Never to lie about them. But to encourage and strengthen their faith.

A non believer, whether a seeker or not, we can still love and if they offer love accept it willingly. We must be firm in Jesus Christ, but never argue for Christ. Rather present the good news/ gospel message and allow them to make the choice. If at this time it is rejection, we go on loving and gently presenting that same message both in words, but also in how we live. With prayer.

If anything is being used to make you love less and create negative emotions that you can not control - get rid of it! It is better to go into 'life' without the baggage. What place will politics have after death? If we have already gone from death to life, what use is it in our walk with Christ? Love SofTy.

that is an interesting passage ServantofTruth. For me, when it says "If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away." I think it is a challenge. Somewhat saying that if something really forces you to sin, it is better to abandon it completely and take extreme measures. But within that I think that it also forces us to take a hard look at what we do and realize what it is that is the source of the sin. I think we may find out that it is not your foot at all, but your failure to resist the temptation to sin. Blaming your foot would be silly, say for kicking someone, just as blaiming politics would be silly to justify my pettiness.

I believe that it is possible to resist the temptation to sin while participating in political campaigns even when others do not. It is of course challenging, but still something I want to do. After all, if no Christians became involved im politics for fear of the temptation to sin, all our lawmaking would be left to those without qualms about sinning. For those reasons, I think it is a personal shortcoming on my part, and not any particular activity's fault. Sin like this is bound to crop up in anything I do it seems if left unchecked. But i agree that I have to get back to basics and make sure that I think of my actions in real time in the context of the Bible, and not just as an afterthought.

Well, that depends. I don't live to avoid sin. I live to draw closer to God and get to know Him better each day than I did the day before. In the course of that, He shows me things within myself that are contrary to Himself and His nature, and that I then repent of.

I live by the fact that Jesus has already done away with my sin and that it is under the blood now and gone. The challenge for me now is myself and those things that lurk within my own heart that have to change. Sin, to my view, is an expression of something within people that is contrary to God. Once you deal with that, then sin is no longer an issue. If your thinking lines up with God's and your desires are aligned with His, then you will no longer sin.

So to my thinking, sin is a symptom, not a root cause. Why deal with the symptom, when you go after the root, which is a heart condition that God can easily deal with if we just open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit and let Him?

Part of growing in Christ is increasing in understanding the extent of sin in our lives. What I see happening here is that God is working on your heart to help you see your sin so that you may appreciate His grace even more. The day you make peace with sin is the day sin rules your life. We are in a constant battle with sin, and personally, I look forward to the day when I no longer struggle with it and dwell with our Lord (not that I want to die, but hey, heaven is going to be great!).

Like the 12 steppers say, the first step is realizing that you have a problem with sin. Thank the Lord that you see it and battle against it, and may we all finish the race with Christ.