Struggling With Sin or Holding Onto It?

I used to think struggling with sin and talking about obedience was legalism. Anytime someone brought it up, I would immediately think, “That’s not how salvation works. We’re saved by faith.” And that’s true. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works or performance. But I had to face something in my own life. I had to ask myself whether I was actually struggling or whether I was keeping the door open.

Simply put, struggling with sin does not mean you are not saved, but knowingly holding onto sin and refusing to let it go should make you examine whether your faith is real.

A lot of people respond to this topic the same way. They say we all sin, Jesus forgives, and only Jesus was perfect. All of that is true. But those truths can be used to avoid something deeper. They can become a way to justify staying the same instead of asking whether anything in us has actually changed. The issue is not whether Christians still sin. The issue is whether we are willing to continue in it.

Struggling With Sin vs Holding Onto It

There is a real difference between struggling with sin and holding onto it. When you are struggling, you hate it. You fight it. You fall, but you do not want it. There is conviction, tension, and a desire to turn. When you are holding onto it, it looks different. You leave access to it. You plan for it. You tell yourself you will deal with it later. You keep something in your life that you already know should not be there. That was me. There were things I knew were wrong, but I was not ready to give them up. I was not just struggling. I was keeping the option there on purpose.

Why This Is Serious

This is where people get uncomfortable, but it needs to be said clearly. Salvation is by faith, but real faith changes a person. Scripture says, “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). That does not mean perfection, but it does mean there is evidence. There is direction. There is movement. A new desire begins to grow, and a resistance to sin develops. Another passage says, “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning” (1 John 3:6). That does not mean a believer never sins. It means they do not stay in it comfortably, without conviction or without a fight.

So when someone claims to believe in Christ but continues to knowingly hold onto sin and refuses to let it go, that is not something to ignore. It raises a real question about whether the heart has actually been changed. This is not about one failure or a moment of weakness. It is about a settled posture that says, “I know this is wrong, but I am keeping it.” That is where the danger is.

This Is Not Legalism

I pushed back on this for a long time because I thought it was legalism. Legalism says you earn your salvation by doing enough good and avoiding enough bad. That is not what this is. This is about whether your faith is real enough to actually affect how you live. You do not obey to get saved. You obey because something inside you has changed. And if nothing is changing, it is fair to ask why.

There Is Still Hope

This is not about condemnation. It is about clarity. If you recognize that you have been holding onto sin, leaving doors open, or delaying obedience, that does not mean it is over. It means you are seeing something clearly. You can turn right now. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God is not shutting the door on you, but you do need to stop leaving yours open.

The Real Question

The real question is not whether you still struggle. It is what you are doing with it. Are you fighting it, or are you keeping it?

Arch Kennedy
Bold, Unfiltered, and Unafraid