“We seem to be content to pray for forgiveness when we should have been praying for the power to overcome.”—Virgil Hurley.

In our struggle against sin, many Christians give up far too easily. This has always been the case. The apostles encouraged believers in the first century to strive for holiness. John wrote, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin…” (1 John 2:1). Paul says, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!…” (Romans 6:1).

This is not to say that we can ever attain perfection. Only Jesus did that. However, we mustn’t allow our occasional failures to cause us to give up the fight to live lives of purity.

It’s good to know that when we sin, forgiveness is available through Jesus. But let’s not use that for an excuse to give in to sin.