記得小時候，我家附近的公園曾展示一輛退役的二戰坦克車。儘管有許多標誌警告人們攀爬坦克車的危險，但我的幾個朋友還是爭先恐後地爬上去。我們當中有些人原本有些猶豫，但最終大家還是爬上去了。只有一個男孩指著警告標誌，拒絕一起調皮搗蛋；另一個則是看到有大人走過來，慌忙地從坦克車上跳下來。我們原本想遵守規定，但卻敵不過玩樂的誘惑，將一切規定都拋之腦後。

我們每個人都潛藏著一顆幼稚的叛逆之心，不喜歡聽別人告訴我們，該做什麼或不該做什麼。但雅各書清楚指出，當我們知道應該行善卻不去行，這就是罪了（4章17節）。在羅馬書，使徒保羅寫道：「我所願意的善，我反不做；我所不願意的惡，我倒去做。若我去做所不願意做的，就不是我做的，乃是住在我裡頭的罪做的。」（7章19-20節）

身為基督徒，我們會感到困惑，為何自己無法勝過罪惡的誘惑，這是因為我們常常只憑自己的力量去做正確的選擇。其實活在世上的時候，我們都會有犯罪的衝動，直到見主面之日為止。因此在此之前，讓我們倚靠基督的能力，因為從死裡復活的主已經戰勝罪惡了！

When I was a kid, a decommissioned World War II tank was put on display in a park near my home. Multiple signs warned of the danger of climbing on the vehicle, but a couple of my friends immediately scrambled up. Some of us were a bit reluctant, but eventually we did the same. One boy refused, pointing to the posted signs. Another jumped down quickly as an adult approached. The temptation to have fun outweighed our desire to follow rules.

There’s a heart of childish rebellion lurking within all of us. We don’t like being told what to do or not to do. Yet we read in James that when we know what is right and don’t do it—it is sin (4:17). In Romans, the apostle Paul wrote: “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (7:19–20).

As believers in Jesus, we may puzzle over our struggle with sin. But too often we depend solely on our own strength to do what’s right. One day, when this life is over, we’ll be truly dead to sinful impulses. Until then, however, we can rely on the power of the One whose death and resurrection won the victory over sin.