We have a yearly reminder to examine our walk with God, recognizing the influence of sin that permeates all of us and to do what is necessary to get clear of it. The darkest fact about the lives of men and women is sin, and the grandest fact is that from God is His forgiveness through the means of the death and life of our resurrected Savior Jesus Christ. We dare not forget just how awful and opposed to God sin is (I Corinthians 6:9-11). We have all been caught in the snare of sin, becoming its abject slaves. Our deceptive, carnal nature will always deceive the self, convincing us that our behavior is not so bad, but the apostle Paul, rather late in his conversionary process, realized the toxic nature of sin (Romans 7), similar to a drug addiction having lingering effects. Like King David, we must ask God to probe our inner nervous systems, culling away anything that is detestable to Him (Psalm 25:4-5; Psalm 139:24) allowing God full access to the recesses of our heart (I Corinthians 11:28; II Corinthians 13:5). Once God reveals our sins, we have an obligation to repent, following the narrow road avoided by most people. We must get control of the besetting sins (those that are constantly attacking and harassing), making it a life and death matter (Matthew 5:29-30), something possible to do, but not an easy thing to do. Sinning comes easily to us; righteousness does not. We must, with God's Holy Spirit (the mind of Christ—I Corinthians 2:16), mortify our flesh (Romans 8:13), remembering that our old man was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6). Our fleeting opportunity to repent is too valuable to let sin take control of us again.