I am struggling with the fact that as a Christian I am to strive to be like Christ, sinless. However, I also read that we all sin; we all fall short of the glory of God; we all have strayed even in our Christian walk. With that, I have read in the Bible that God forgives us our sins and remembers them no more, if we ask and repent. I have also heard (but not read in the Bible) that there are consequences to our sins. My questions are 1.) If it is inevitable that we are going to sin, is it correct to assume that it's also inevitable that we are going to reap hardships in our lives b/c of sin? 2.) When hardships enter our lives, how do we discern whether it's a punishment from God for our inevitable sinning, or just the will of God? 3.) When we ask God for forgiveness for our sins, can we ask for freedom from the associated consequences? Lastly, 4.) when we are struggling to rid ourselves of a particular sin, do you think God will punish us anyway (after several attempts and slip-ups) when he knows we are honestly trying to obey, and we are GRADUALLY ridding ourselves of such sin? Desparately looking for the truth:-) |