This is not intended to be another self-help guide. That is to identify the problem and then offer steps that you do to fix it. Instead, the first part of each section is intended to help you understand how a particular sin works by examining the life of a biblical character who struggled with that sin. The examination of the fruit of the Spirit that follows is intended to show what God produces in the place of sin and how he does it.

What makes this important is that there is no way to self-help yourself out of sin. To attempt to do so only leads to a self-righteous, “at least I’m not as bad as others,” or a shameful, “I can’t do any differently.” If we are careful to look at what God has done about sin through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and what he continues to do about sin through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, then real progress can be made and growth becomes possible.

When we look at sin from this perspective, we can better understand the choices we have when faced with our sin. Unfortunately, when we look bad choices we have made, we can be haunted by guilt or shame, or we may justify the choice by hiding from it, explaining, or blaming it away. To deal with our sin, God wants to move us beyond guilt or justification. He calls us to repentance.

Unfortunately, the picture most have is an angry preacher whose necktie is too tight, whose face is red, whose voice is high pitched and shouting, telling his audience to turn or burn. This picture is then superimposed on John the Baptist or Jesus when they extend God’s call to repentance. We cannot read the tone of their voices when they spoke, but I believe it was not in the manner described above.

In the parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15, Jesus describes repentance as process through which a lost sheep is found by her good shepherd. It is only when the sheep is found does she have choices. The only option available to her before being found is to die. The rejoicing that takes place after the sheep is found is not to celebrate the choice of the sheep to come home with the shepherd but the skill and success of the shepherd in finding the sheep.

Jesus used this picture to describe his ministry. Before we are found by Jesus our options are limited and ultimately lead to our destruction. As C.S. Lewis says our ability to make choices and follow those choices will always be bent. No matter how noble our goal, the power of sin always bends our path in such a way that we never arrive where we intend. We are left to comfort ourselves with our good intentions since we will always miss our mark. After being found by Jesus and his bringing us to faith, we have real choices we can make concerning our sin.

When Jesus works in us repentance, the Holy Spirit also plants inside of us the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth (Gal 5:22-23). When Jesus finds us, we are led to confess our sin to God. We are then forgiven for Jesus’ sake. Jesus turns us away from our sin and the Holy Spirit begins to manifest his fruit inside of us.

In this study when I speak of the choices we have to make regarding our sin, I do so from this perspective. The questions are intended to help identify how a particular sin works in our lives. Before you look at the study on any sin, ask the Holy Spirit to convict you where you are guilty and only where you are guilty. If you are found guilty, confess that sin to God knowing that he will forgive you (1 John 1:8-9). Look at the study on the fruit of the Spirit that follows not as a self-help study but rather as an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to show you how that fruit works in your life. In other words, the purpose of the study is to help you practice what the Holy Spirit has given you already by faith.

Sin is subtle. It bends the little choices we make in ways we are often not aware. It is not until we begin to examine some of the patterns in our lives or are confronted by some of our behaviors that we begin to recognize where we have come. This study is intended to show you your sin. More than that it is to show you that your relationship to God is not based on what you have done but on what God has done for you at the cross of his Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). The benefits of what Christ has done are received through faith alone (Eph 2:8-10). It is through Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit that our lives are transformed. May this transforming power be at work in you as you go through this study.