Is Your Personality Your Excuse to Sin?

I remember many years ago hearing a preacher say something really interesting....something I've thought a lot about since I heard it.  He said, "Don't ever let your personality be your excuse for sin".

Do you understand that statement?  In other words, what the preacher was saying, was that often times you and I may say, "Well, I speak my mind.  That's just the way I am."  Or perhaps, "I can't help it.  That's how I am.  That's how God made me."

You and I may be frank, rude, sarcastic, uncaring, unkind, blunt, etc. and use the excuse that our personality makes us that way.  And, maybe our personality is more prone to be a certain way and makes us more likely to respond in a certain way, but we mustn't forget that it is always a choice how we act and how we respond.  We don't have to be rude.  We don't have to be blunt.  We don't have to be sarcastic.  We choose to be all of those things, and when we choose to act that way, we are choosing to sin.  Hurting others with our words is sinful.  It hurts the person we are talking to or talking about, but it also hurts us.

Our personalities are what make us unique.  Our personalities are what distinguish us from one another and will help us or hinder us, depending on how we manage them; however, we must remember that it's a choice how we respond and react.  God didn't make us to have sinful responses!  We choose to have sinful responses.  Satan wants us to have sinful responses.  He wants us to use our personalities as an excuse to sin.

It's important for us to realize that our personalities can get us into trouble if we make poor choices.  But we don't have to work at this problem on our own.  God has given His children a helper.  We have the gift of the Holy Spirit.  If we will allow God's Spirit to work in our lives, these fruits of the Spirit will grow and mature.  We'll be able to make wiser choices.  We'll rely on the Spirit to help us.  We'll get rid of any excuses having to do with our flawed personality, and he result will be a personality that resembles Jesus' personality!   No more excuses to sin!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 

2 Peter 1:5-7