Good morning, my brothers! As it relates to our habitual sin, are you and I still bailing water or just trying to mop it up, or are we asking God to find and fix the leak? Sathiya Sam challenged us on Saturday, and let’s dig deeper today. Let’s go! 4-min, 32-sec read.
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In 2019, I was elected chairman of one of the major political parties in my home county in North Carolina. I served two terms, and we helped elect some truly amazing people. So when my second term ended in 2023, I expected something. Recognition. Some invitations. A door or two opening.
Nothing came. And I was discouraged.
I could’ve mopped that up and moved on. I’ve tried to, actually. But as I’ve thought about Sathiya’s article from Saturday, I’ve realized the discouragement wasn’t the “leak”, it was just the “water”, to borrow from his article.
The leak was that I was still chasing the applause of men for something God had already settled. He adopted me as His son. Finished work. And I was still out looking for attaboys, rather than living for the Audience of One.
What’s Your Water?
Maybe yours isn’t discouragement. Maybe it’s the screen at midnight. The third drink. The temper that flares at the people you love most. Fear of doing what you know is right because of the possible consequence.
And most of us mop. We delete the app. We count the streak. We promise, “God, never again.” Some of that helps. But as Sathiya said, we just get better at delaying the next fall, and we never actually get free.
That’s because habitual sin is usually the water, not the leak. Underneath it is something we’re hungry for: relief from pressure, comfort for loneliness, proof that we’re enough. The sin just promises to deliver it.
Every habitual sin is asking something to give us what only the Father can.
Let Him Show You the Leak
We can’t find the root on our own. We need Him to show us.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Here’s your step this week. The next time you feel the pull toward your go-to sin, don’t just grit your teeth. Stop and ask Him the three questions Sathiya taught us:
What is this urge revealing?
What am I actually looking for?
What is this promising me right now?
Then let the Father answer with what He’s already said. You’re His son. Loved. Not on probation. Grace doesn’t just forgive the water. It fixes the leak.
(If pornography is your fight, Sathiya’s free book, The Last Relapse, is a great next step.)
Father, I’m tired of mopping the same floor. Search me. Show me what I’m really hungry for, and teach me to bring that hunger to You. I’m Your son. Help me live like it. In Jesus’ name, amen.
-Will
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