Do you ever feel like you are caught in a viscous cycle, repeating the same mistakes over and over again? Do you ever feel like you are a lost cause? Or like you are “one mistake away from God leaving you this way,” as a popular Christian band sings? Are there certain sins you keep going back to and can’t seem to overcome once and for all? You even admit your sin to God, repent, and stay strong for a little while. You think you’re safe. You think you’re done. But the next thing you know, you’re back in the rut, back in the guilt and shame, back to feeling the painful consequences of your choices…
Not much has evolved in humans’ abilities to learn from their mistakes in the past few thousand years. We are not the first to experience the “sin cycle.” The Israelites paved the way. They too would lose focus and start living to please themselves. Their sin would take over. Then out of God’s grace and knowledge, He would remind them, through devastating and humbling circumstances, to Whom they belong and that without Him they are hopeless. Ashamed, they would repent and get their lives back on track… for a little while. Then sure enough, they were back in their sins, back in the rut, back to forgetting God and feeding their worldly passions. The cycle continued for years, and they never seemed to learn how to stay faithful to the Lord.
One of their reoccurring sins was doing what the other people groups around them were doing. The Israelites wanted to be like everyone else. And everyone else had a king. So, naturally, the Israelites asked for a king. They thought they knew what was best for them. They thought they wanted a king. They wouldn’t listen to the Lord or His servants who tried to dissuade them. And sometimes God gives us what we don’t need in order to show us Who we do need. That’s what happened when Israel got a king, and they quickly felt the consequences their pride.
We do the same things. We think we know what’s best for us, what we need, what will make us happy. We look at the godless people around us and think they are so happy and fulfilled, and we want to be like them, it’s too hard being different. So we ask for a boyfriend, we ask for popularity, we ask for money and a car, we ask for a different job, we ask to go to parties. And while none of these things are necessarily bad in and of themselves, they often lead us to sin and cause us to forget God. We’ll try doing things our own way until we’ve messed it up too badly and things seem hopeless again…
Romans 15:4 tells us that, “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” We don’t have to keep making the same mistakes they did. We can learn from their mistakes and get off this “sick cycle carousel.” There is hope.
I think we’ve all felt helplessly and hopelessly flawed, destined to remain an inconsistent mess forever. And without the grace of the Lord and the indwelling of His Spirit, that would be true. But praise the Lord for His amazing grace that gives us hope! Through faith in Jesus we receive the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us, who helps us know the truth, who asks us to give Him control instead of surrendering to our sinful nature. Suddenly there is hope. There is strength. There is consistency. The cycle is broken…
This month at club we will be looking at the period of the judges and the United Kingdom of Israel. Even though those events took place so long ago, it’s easy to see how the lessons they learned are still relevant to us today. So if you are sick of being stuck in the same mistakes and same situations, sick of the guilt and pain; if you’re ready to break the cycle, ask the Lord to transform you and let us be a part of it. Let’s help each other get out of the rut. Come prepared to ask yourself tough questions. Come prepared to break the cycle.
After Club Questions:
JUDGES 10.06 and 10.08
- What cycle are you stuck in? What sins do you keep going back to?
- What about those sins is so appealing? Why do you keep going back?
- How are you going to break the cycle? What do you need to change?
- Who can help you make those changes? Who can keep you accountable?
5. How can you give the Spirit control of your mind? (Romans 8:5-17)
SAUL 10.13 and 10.15
- How are you like Saul?
- When have you not followed God’s instructions and claimed it was in order to offer Him something? Consider 1 Samuel 15:22, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
- How do/would you react when you are removed from a position and someone else gets it?
DAVID 10.20 and 10.22
- When someone calls you out on your sins, how do you respond? Do you confess and change your ways, or do you respond with anger, denial, and ignoring God?
- Why was David called a man after God’s own heart? Would you consider yourself to be after God’s own heart? Why or why not? How can you become someone who is?
3. Who do you have in your life like Nathan or Jonathan? Who will call you out on your sin? Who will be your friend and look out for you? Do you need to change the friends you are hanging out with?
SOLOMON 10.27 and 10.29
- If God offered you anything in the world, what would you ask for? Why do you think Solomon asked for wisdom?
- Why do you think Solomon had to try everything for himself to find out whether or not it was good or worthwhile? Are you ever like that? What things has God told you are not good that you are trying to see for yourself if He’s telling the truth? If Solomon could do it over, what do you think he would change? If you could do it over, what would you change?
- “Everything is meaningless.” Do you ever feel like all the dating, popularity, clothes, cars, music, money, knowledge, fun is all meaningless? Does it ever leave you unsatisfied? What is meaningful? What’s the point of everything? How do you know?
- What would Solomon say about purity? Should we care about what he says? Why or why not?
