In an article written to pastors entitled, The Secret to Ministry Satisfaction, Dallas Willard offers wisdom that is applicable to any apprentice of Jesus.

“Those who experience moral failure are those who have failed to live a deeply satisfied life in Christ, almost without exception. I know my temptations come out of situations where I am dissatisfied, not content. I am worried about something or not feeling the sufficiency I know is there. If I have a strong temptation, it will be out of my dissatisfaction.”

A few lines later he writes:

“The surest guarantee against failure is to be so at peace and satisfied with God that when wrongdoing presents itself, it isn’t even interesting. That is how we stay out of temptation.”

Willard offers an important truth to spiritual formation: Temptation and sin are symptoms of dissatisfaction with God. A life that is joyfully and peacefully satisfied, secure, and content in God finds nothing else to be appetizing or tempting. And conversely, a life that is dissatisfied, insecure and discontent in God will inevitably turn to something else.

In order to take advantage of this wisdom, I think it’s important to rethink how we view sin. But before we do, I want to say upfront that I am not trying to dilute or diminish sin. I believe the Bible is very clear about the severity of sin’s destructive and dehumanizing power. The damaging power of sin is evident from the first chapters of the Bible when the first humans plucked the forbidden fruit to seek self-autonomy, through the Old Testament’s narrative arc of humanity’s and Israel’s constant failure, and into the New Testament, ultimately resulting in the sacrifice of God’s own son. Only through Jesus is there full forgiveness and redemption from sin.

The shift in perspective I recommend is viewing sin more as a state of unhealth rather than a violation of God’s legal code. Sin is a disease of the soul more than a crime in a courtroom. This doesn’t diminish sin’s destructive power nor our need to confess, repent, and ask for God’s and others’ forgiveness, mercy and grace. 

But we shouldn’t stop there. If sin is a disease of the soul, a symptom of our dissatisfaction with God, we should use it in cooperation with God to diagnose where the unhealth lies and what steps might be needed to move toward health.

For example, if you’re prone to exploding in anger, then you need God to reveal where your dissatisfaction and discontentment with him lie. Are you dissatisfied with not getting what you want? Are you dissatisfied with your inability to control circumstances and people? Are you dissatisfied with how others act? Are you dissatisfied with your circumstances — career, health, finances, relationships, talents, unfulfilled dreams?

The same kind of analysis with God needs to occur with anxiety, lust, gluttony, consumerism, pride, hatred, fear, gossip, apathy, laziness and any other destructive quality that might plague us. These arise when we don’t believe we’re satisfied, safe, cared for, and confident with God in our lives. They are destructive forms of self-autonomy, attempts once again to pluck fruit from a tree that we believe will give us control over our lives because we don’t believe our God and Creator is able or willing to care completely for us like he’s promised.

Later in the same article, Willard offers the following sage advice for addressing our dissatisfaction.

“I encourage pastors to have substantial times every week when they do nothing but enjoy God. That may mean walking by a stream, looking at a flower, listening to music, or watching your children or grandchildren play without your constantly trying to control them. Experience the fullness of God, think about the good things God has done for you, and realize he has done well by you. If there is a problem doing that, then work through the problem, because we cannot really serve him if we do not genuinely love him.”

Notice he doesn’t say, “Try harder.” Since temptation and sin are symptoms of dissatisfaction and discontentment with God, the answer is not to try harder to resist temptation and stop sinning. Nor is the answer to try harder to pray, study scripture, and practice additional disciplines to force transformation. The answer is to make time to enjoy God, to experience the goodness of God, and to remember he has done well by you.

Upon that foundation, God may reveal other simple disciplines to practice that will bring our engrained habits of temptation and sin before his transforming grace. A good rule of thumb is:

Sins of commission usually need spiritual disciplines of abstinence (solitude, silence, fasting, etc) and sins of omission need spiritual disciplines of engagement (community, worship, prayer, etc).

But even these specific spiritual disciplines are simply practiced with peace and joy so that they immerse us in a deep satisfaction and contentment with God.