The journey from your mind into your hands is shorter than you’re thinking.
Be careful if you think you stand, you just might be sinking.- “Slow Fade”, Casting Crowns
The hard thing about trying to be a good, moral person is that you’re constantly being pulled towards those things you know you shouldn’t be involved in. Temptation has a way of dragging you back onto the wide path when you’ve been trying to walk the straight and narrow.
Sometimes though, you make the choices yourself. You see that someone else is letting slide what you think is wrong, so you begin to think it’s OK too. It could be swearing, movies, drinking, just about anything. You start to feel pressure if you’re the one that is different from everyone else and then you begin to conform to the ways of those around you.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
- Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
The little things add up, all the time. First, you decide to tell a little white lie so that you don’t get in trouble. You follow those with lies to cover up the original lie. Years later, you’re telling your spouse that you’ve been at the office all day when really you’ve been at a bar, all because it’s become more natural to lie than to tell the truth.
Opening the door to any sin allows all sin to get a foothold in your life. We’ve got to battle back sin with the Holy Spirit, actively engaging in the fight and not passively allowing the enemy to roll over us. This is something that doesn’t come natural to any of us, it really is a struggle to do. However, the reward for fighting back the sin in our lives is eternal.
Imagine that a worker notices a problem with a dam holding back millions of gallons of water. Below that dam is a quaint little town, full of people going about their everyday lives. If the worker notices a small leak in the dam, should he fix the leak, or should he just say, “Oh, it’s just a small leak, it should be fine.” Those millions of gallons of water are now placing pressure on that small leak, causing it to grow a little bigger with each passing day.
Gradually, the leak turns into a gaping hole, allowing more water to pass through, causing some minor issues in the little town. Still, the worker says, “The dam is still standing, that hole isn’t causing much damage. I’ll ignore it.”
Eventually, the gaping hole gives way to an actual dam break. Millions of gallons of water are rushing down the hill towards the little town, destroying everything in its path. The little town is destroyed, all the people are injured or killed, and the dam worker justifies it by saying, “The dam just broke!”
Now, let’s talk about sin this way. Maybe you’ve allowed a little sin into your life, but you don’t want to deal with it because it’s not a big deal. Everyone has small issues, right? Your family doesn’t know about it and everything looks normal. However, that sin is placing pressure on you and on the rest of your life, wanting to allow more sin to come through.
Gradually, that sin grows into something that you and your family notice, but you don’t really identify the cause of the problem. You continue to justify it by saying that everyone is doing it, it’ll be OK. It’s not causing too many problems in your life so you just let it continue.
Finally, the dam breaks. You act out on your sin in a big way, destroying your family, your reputation, and your relationship with God. You might say, “I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t myself, it just happened!”
This is what happens when we allow sin to erode our life. Our familiarity with sin is unacceptable to God. We cannot be friendly with sin and friendly with God at the same time. Through prayer, through devotion to Him, God can give us the ability to overcome sin, but we have to make the effort to do so. We have to pursue God so that He can renew our minds.
Are there areas where you need to battle back sin in your life? How can I pray for you?
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