The longer we walk with Christ, the more we should be growing in Him and imitating Him with our life. Just like little children, as they grow and learn from their parents, you often see them imitating what they hear and see. As human babies grow, they are maturing – physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally. As baby Christians, we are growing too – maturing spiritually. And this growth process is a great description of sanctification. Upon salvation, we are sanctified in the sense that we are made holy and declared holy through Christ’s shed blood on the cross and His forgiveness of sins. And we are being sanctified day by day as we walk with Christ in our salvation. It’s a lifelong process of being set apart and being freed from sin.

As believers, we should be able to look back and see a difference in our walk with the Lord over the years. We should be growing more sensitive to the things of the Holy Spirit as the years go by. But what happens to some of us as we pull away from God’s Word and church is that we tend to become more tolerant of sin. We may not even notice it.

This tolerance to sin can creep into our lives in many ways. We may start watching shows with cussing and immorality, or listening to music with lyrics that glamorize sin. And where we used to be shocked with tv and radio, we now appear lethargic and inattentive to the cussing and immoral images. We don’t flinch at all. 

In Exodus 32 as Moses was coming down off the mountain with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, he met up with Joshua and headed toward the camp to join Aaron and the people. In v. 17, Joshua hears a sound from the people but couldn’t discern what it was for. He thought maybe war, but Moses corrects him in v. 18 and tells him it was the sound of singing. Aaron and the people had sinned and created a golden calf and were worshiping the idol they created. Moses came off the mountain, from being in the presence of the Lord, and he could hear the sound of sin a mile away!

Exodus 32:17-19, “Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of victory, Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; But I hear the sound of singing.” And it came about, as soon as Moses approached the camp, that he saw the calf and the people dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.”

When we spend time in God’s presence – reading His Word and praying – we will be more sensitive to sin. But does that mean we will be perfect? No; obviously not. There will be times when we slip and forget, or we are tired and not as vigilant as we should be. Why? Because we are still human, and we still live in an imperfect world where sin is ever present. But you know what? Even the great saints of old had this struggle.

Romans 7:19, “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”

Paul says in Romans 7 that he did what he didn’t want to do. Why? Because of sin. It’s a battle between the flesh and the spirit, and it’s a battle that will continue until we die. That’s why we’re told to “crucify the flesh”. And crucifixion of the flesh should happen daily. If the saints of old could do it, then we can and should too.

Galatians 5:24-25, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well.”

It’s a serious matter when we know we’ve sinned, yet we disregard God and do it again. Sin is serious. It should never be taken lightly. Our God is a holy God. He is not distant or disinterested in our lives. We may think He’s not paying attention, but we couldn’t be more wrong. He knows every single thing we do – what we see, what we say, what we hear, where we go, and even what we think.

It reminds me of the lyrics from a familiar children’s song that is taught in Sunday School classrooms:

“O be careful little eyes what you see. O be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above, He’s looking down in love, So, be careful little eyes what you see.

O be careful little ears, what you hear. O be careful little ears, what you hear. For the Father up above, He’s looking down in love, So, be careful little ears, what you hear.”

As a believer, when we keep pushing past Holy Spirit conviction and we commit sin, we are numbing our hearts and making it harder to hear the Holy Spirit’s conviction in the future. It is like forming a callous over our hearts. Just like working with your hands and forming a callous over your skin makes it hard to feel contact with an object that’s touching you there – such as something sharp or hot. So, when we form a callous over our hearts by ignoring the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we make it harder to feel the Lord warning us and calling our attention to sin.

It reminds me of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This type of bacteria is able to survive and even multiply in the presence of an antibiotic. And the reason this is possible is because the bacteria has been faced with the antibiotic so many times, that it has learned how to not let itself be affected or killed by it. So, it has become resistant. That’s just like your sin nature – it’s resistant to conviction. Your sin nature doesn’t want to die; so it’s going to fight off the source of its destruction.

That’s why it’s so important to stay vigilant! We need to stay in God’s Word and continue in prayer each day, seeking the Lord’s strength as He guides our steps and directs our path. We can follow the example of Noah and be “set apart” from the acts of sin that the world embraces. And we can do as Heb. 12:1 tells us and throw off “the sin that so easily entangles.” Let’s not grow weary and lazy. Let’s be strong in the Lord, steadfast in our faith, and believing the words found in Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.”