At some point, you’ve likely heard a smoker say the following: “I just quit smoking. Again.” You’ve probably watched a friend or family member lose a lot of weight, just to put it all back on again. Or how about this? How many times have you declared on January 1 that you are going to hit the gym regularly? How long did that last?

It’s really difficult to sustain healthy behaviors when it comes to taking care of our bodies. I find the same goes for spiritual health. Removing sin “for good” instead of just “for now” is incredibly challenging.

The reason is that we tackle both our physical and spiritual health the same way. We try to attack our vices or bad habits through sheer will power, determination, discipline and resistance. And then we pat ourselves on the back as we have success. Every day we dodge a cigarette or a cupcake. Every time we resist a temptation.

In my life, I’ve learned the hard way that this approach will only take me so far. If I’m not getting to the root of the problem, deeply understanding the motivation behind my actions and the things that trigger me, I just don’t have long-term success. My victories are short-lived and then I’m right back at square one. Defeated and ashamed.

The real problem with discipline and resistance as a way of combatting sin or cigs is that you are only dealing with the “action” and not the “attitude”.

1 Timothy 5:24 says, “The sin of your heart is the sin of your hands.” That’s a powerful verse. For me, it says that patting myself on the back just because I resisted sin is foolish. I can only contain my hands for so long. If my heart is not in the right place, my hands will find a way to escape the feeble chains I’m using to suppress them.

If I’m merely avoiding the act but desiring the action, then I’m still sinning. I’m still struggling. And it’s only a matter of time before that manifests itself in an unhealthy way.

This is a different thought process than I’ve had before. For years, I looked at sin as being external. Am I behaving or am I misbehaving? But sin is internal. The sinful act is just a visible expression of the sinful attitude. And sometimes it takes a while for it to show up. But as the passage above points out, sooner or later, it will be seen.

I’m not saying that fleeing sin isn’t a great first step. The Bible says to resist Satan and he will flee from you. But without closely evaluating and caring for your heart, you can’t run far enough away to truly escape.

Ask anyone who has been successful with a diet, exercise plan or quitting a habit like smoking, and they will likely have a story about how it required that they face and overcome internal obstacles. The same goes for spiritual health. Talk to anyone who has “quit” a sin for good and they will share how they transformed their heart instead of only training their hands to do no harm.