Lesson 32

Can struggling with sin be beneficial?

When we go through a period of “struggling” over sin, we may wonder if we will ever stop struggling this side of heaven. However, the process of struggling can help us mature in our faith as we become more committed to the Lord, equipped with Scripture, and engaged with the Holy Spirit. Generally a wife experiences a very challenging struggle when she discovers that her husband became involved with sexual impurity, whether it is pornography or an affair with another woman. She may also struggle with other issues related to resolving their marriage problems.

Kay shared that a part of her husband’s testimony includes his struggle as a teen, years before they met. “Since I knew that, I realized that his habitual sexual impurity wasn’t my fault. However, I also realized that as we were growing apart, I was paying more attention to my kids and less to him. I wasn’t nurturing and tending the ‘garden’ of my marriage.”

Through counseling, Kay and her husband had to deal with the issues that had divided them. The one who commits the sin needs to take responsibility and must be the one who confesses the sin to God in order to obtain mercy and forgiveness. The sin must also be confessed to one another so that steps can be taken toward restoration and redemption of the marriage relationship. Hopefully, by God’s grace, a couple can become stronger in their faith and rebuild the bonds of marriage by eliminating the struggles of sin as they face them together.