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One counselor offers these tips to overcome a bad habit: Find a substitute for the negative behavior; stay away from triggers; surround yourself with positive friends; visualize overcoming; dismiss negative talk; plan to fail; and try again. These tips may be useful, but the Apostle Paul gives us a Christ-centered strategy for gaining the victory over sin. In Romans Chapter 6, he explains that the first step in conquering sin is to know and believe that no one who accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is obligated to serve sin. That’s because when we accept Christ as our Savior, God unites us with Jesus. God considers every believer in Christ as having died with Him; and when He arose, we arose with Him. Pau says to overcome sin, the first step is to accept this truth as trustworthy and reliable. Secondly, we by faith, consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. As such, we refuse to let sin rule over us. The third step is to offer ourselves to God. Paul explains that everyone is a slave. Either we are slaves to sin and commit sin, or we are slaves to God and commit righteous acts. We are slaves either to Satan or to God. But we can pick our slave master. When we choose to accept Christ and yield to God, God’s Spirit within helps us say no to sin and yes to righteous conduct. Sometimes quickly, most times gradually, we gain the victory over our bad habits.
