Just because you have a rough persona, does not mean that you can act the way you want. How many times do we excuse ourselves from being intentionally rude or sinful and said: "That's just who I am."

Shutter to think that this is a pass to be sinful. We are told in Scripture to not excuse our own sins. 2 Timothy 2:19 states, "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ departs from iniquity."

Departing from iniquity means we don't make excuses to cover up our sins. These wrong patterns might seem harmless, but they can really become a problem in our spiritual lives.

What causes us to fall into these yucky patterns? The Great Bible Study tackled this question and summed it up like this: "The reason can be that we have strongholds, unclean spirits, or we are still allowing other things to become more important to us than our relationship with God lack of relationship with God."

We all struggle in our lives and yes, no one is perfect. God gave us grace and sent Jesus to help us when we fail. However, it is not an excuse to keep on doing whatever we want as there are repercussions. Here are 5 things to consider when you use your personality as an excuse to sin.

It can make you spiritually numb.

When we sin over time we can become more calloused. When King David committed adultery with the wife of Uriah, he covered the sin by hoping that Uriah would take responsibility for the pregnancy. But that did not work and David had Uriah killed on the battlefield. Sin does not go away whether it is speaking evil or committing murder. When sin is present and we cover it up, we become anesthetized and make it worse with other sins, as David found out. David repented and turned to God for mercy and welcomed it.

It harms your relationship with God.

Adam and Eve knew that they were naked because they sinned by eating from the forbidden tree. With this, their relationship with the Lord was impacted. They started to hide from the Lord because of their guilt. They felt shame in their nakedness and it hurt their relationship with the Lord. In addition, "Adam and his wife hid from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden," Genesis recorded. A barrier was created and it grew where they didn't communicate with God anymore. Additionally, they couldn't hear Him as clearly as before because of sin. Through Christ, the barrier is removed. Just because He’s a righteous God, doesn’t mean there won’t be conviction or condemnation for sins or transgressions.

We are not getting away with anything.

We need to toss our pride, excuses and justification in thinking that God is oblivious to what is going on. Adam and Eve tried to hide from God after they sinned and guess what? He found them and they went into exile! You are not fooling anyone when you use excuses to cover up your flaws big and small. You put yourself into exile thinking that you don't need to repent, it always makes it worse. In 1 Thessalonians 5:22 and 23 we are instructed to "Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Any sin can come under the blood of Jesus to be cleansed. Stop running away from God.

We allow the spirit of fear to rule us.

When we run from our sins, the last thing we want to do is face God with it. Jesus came to give us the chance for redemption and we can only do this by taking responsibility for our character flaws. When we don't admit our transgressions, we allow fear into our hearts and the devil loves to use this as a gateway into the believer's life. Fear may prevent you not only from repenting but will prevent you from moving forward in what God has for you. In Psalm 51, you can stop the fear and the denial that you are in. “For I know that my transgressions and my sin are always before me. Against You, and You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight." It is that simple. You may not feel that you are any better off, but you are shedding that sin and fear from ruling you.

There is accountability.

Romans 8:28 said that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Yet, although God is loving, He will not accept sin and forgive us no matter what we do. This is arrogant and misleading to think that we can operate in sin without consequences. We need to truly seek repentance and not so we can start sinning again. When we reach out to God about sin, it’s important that we open up the lines of communication and let the Holy spirit minister to our lives. Despite transgressions, God wants us to invite Him into our lives, even with all the junk that we don't want to deal with. When we come to Him broken--we can find peace and healing.

You might believe that sinning is a small matter but think again. Sin is contagious and justifying it because it's your personality is just lame. Confess your disobedience and that you've sinned. Yes, it is that simple. You will have to do this repeatedly because we all miss the mark. Peter said as recorded in Acts 3:19: “Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out."