The past several weeks, I submitted a question on "How do I know that I'm growing in my faith? We dealt with the first question, "Are you more thirsty for God than before"? The second question was "Are you more and more loving?" The 3rd question was "Are you more sensitive to and aware of God than ever before? The 4th question- "Are you governed more and more by God’s Word?" The 5th question- "Are you concerned more and more with the physical and spiritual needs of others?"The 6th question- Are you more and more concerned with the Church and the Kingdom of God? The 7th question: Are the disciplines of the Christian life more and more important to you?
Here's the 8th question: Are you more and more aware of your sin?
In one of the last things he wrote, when he was about as mature as a Christian gets, the Apostle Paul described himself as the worst sinner in the world (1 Tim. 1:15). How could he say that, since he was probably more like Jesus than anyone we’ve ever met? It’s because the closer you get to Jesus, the more aware you become of your sin and how unlike Him you are.
One of the first spiritual struggles of a new Christian occurs as he becomes aware of sin that never bothered him before. It’s not uncommon for a new believer to feel more guilty at times than he ever did before becoming a Christian. That’s because he’s alive to the Holy Spirit for the first time in his life, and thus he’s more aware of sin.
The more you grow as a Christian, the less you will sin. But it often will seem as though you sin more because your sensitivity to sin will be so much greater.
-submitted by Pastor Herb Bruss, Bell Center Bible Church