Go and sin no more.
—John 8:11
Two fiendish tools that can derail your spiritual journey are temptation and condemnation.
Temptation minimizes sin. It messes with your mind and writes it off as not so bad: “It’s no big deal! Everybody does it!”
Condemnation maximizes sin. It messes with your mind and writes a fatal ending: “I did that! God will never forgive me!”
Do you see the sadistic strategy? You minimize sin before you do it and maximize it after you’ve done it.
Temptation is not sin. Yielding to it is. You don’t have to yield: “When you are tempted, [God] will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it” (1 Cor 10:13 NLT).
Condemnation is not inevitable. Conceding to it is catastrophic. Listen to Jesus: “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (Jn 8:11).
Yield not to temptation.
Concede not to condemnation.