Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. —Galatians 5:16.
The point is straightforward: the more we try not to do something, the more we focus on it, the more we ensure that we will do what we are not supposed to do. That’s why the gift of the Holy Spirit is so important to us as we seek to honor and obey our Lord and Savior Jesus and avoid sin. He enables and empowers us to move beyond our sin and to quit thinking about it. The Spirit empowers us, not by focusing on the sin we want to avoid, but by enriching us and “distracting” us with the important things of God (Galatians 5:22). As we focus more on Jesus, the more the Spirit transforms us away from our sin that we want to avoid and thinking about, and transforming us toward the character of Jesus: