11/17/2018
Sinning is an addiction that is impossible to get over on our own, but once we ask the Lord to pull us free, and he does, it becomes a daily, hourly, moment by moment struggle to maintain. Satan knows we can resist going into the neon signed bars of sinning, so he challenges us with a sip at a wedding, or a taste at a get together. These temptations are usually not sins, but they give us the aroma of it; the allure. Have you been there? Well, thank God for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and our daily renewal... our strengthening.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,”
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 ESV
Jesus drank wine, and it was not a sin, but he had never suffered from alcoholism. The wine in His cup wasn’t the temptation to drink until inebriated. It wasn’t to become so intoxicated that He would lose control and hurt His family, dishonor His Father and mother. It wasn’t an innocent act that would lead Him back into sinning. This is the difference between the temptations to sin that we each face in our daily lives; some remain innocent while others open the border between righteousness and sin itself. Satan stands ready at those borders to welcome us.
“And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”
Luke 4:13 ESV
How do we recognize when innocent acts along the border have become sin? It is when they begin to hurt those around us, to destroy or damage our body, the temple of God, or to become irresistible for us... to take control of us and snatch the reins of our life from the hands of God. It is when the things we do outwardly damage our inward spiritual relationship with God.
“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.”
James 4:1-2 ESV
Once we have been fully immersed in an addiction, then the little innocent things that lead back there must be given up. Alcoholics can’t have a social drink, a sexual addict can’t give an innocent hug, a nicotine addict can’t smoke a single cigarette, a food addict can’t be left alone with snacks in the pantry... well, you get the drift. What is typically innocent and without consequence to one person is dangerous and a temptation to another. This is true of sin, and the things that we recognize as the signposts, the tempting aroma that leads us to it must be eliminated from our lives, and God provides us with this escape... He has given us prayer, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV
Ann and I had dinner with some close friends a couple of days ago, and I was talking with the husband about an addiction we had both been delivered from years before... nicotine. We agreed that one use would instantly drag us back into that uncontrollable desire. We spoke of how an innocent act of nicotine use to someone else was so different for us, and that the Lord had delivered us from it. It wasn’t a sin until You did things like lying to your family about it’s use, or rushing out of church for a smoke or a dip, yet those things happened. So we resist it every day, and the Holy Spirit renews us as we go.
I was reading Andrew Murray today and he wrote about the things that must change in our everyday lives when we take on the life of Christ. I thought about some of those in my life that might seem innocent to someone who had never fallen prey to the addictions of sin that I had...
“The full experience of the life in Christ in our person, our body, and our work for others, depends upon our fellowship in His suffering and death. There can be no renewal of the inward man without the sacrifice and death of the outward.” - Andrew Murray
Have you taken stock of those things in your life that need to change and be left behind?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for pulling me out of my addictions, and for renewing my resistance to the seemingly innocent things that would lead me back there. Thank you Holy Father for your Son Jesus Christ who demonstrated to me His resistance to temptation, and for your Holy Spirit that strengthens me in mine each day. Keep me safe in your arms Father, and though the stress of my day might tempt me, the yearnings of my body draw me, and the encouragement of those around me might become a lure to me, help me to remain firm in my resolve to maintain my life free of my past sins, and firm in Christ. New sins abound father, and wait like a lion in the bush to devour me, so lead me away from those dangers. Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil Father, and teach me to identify those sights and smells that warn me of impending sin, and spiritual danger. You are my strong tower, and my defender. You are the champion of my struggle towards righteousness, and I lift up your name in song as I march at your side. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who sees danger lurking before me and whisks me to safety. You are my God who guards my soul and changes my life. Praised be your name always.
Rich Forbes