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"The Christian should never
complain of want of ability and power. If we sin
it is because we choose to sin, not because we
lack the ability to say no to temptation." (Jerry
Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness,
p.84)
Not About
Victory
Sin
binds us together. We may differ in personality,
taste, background, experience, and skill, but sin
makes us equals.
While
some people struggle with anger, others wrestle
with the demons of lust. Greed seduces
some of us, while jealousy and envy afflicts
others. Bitterness and unforgiveness rule in some
lives, while lies dominate others. And
the list continues. Sin is no respecter of persons
or status. It aims to destroy us
all.
Acts
and attitudes become habits that grip us as
tightly as talons. Our many addictions set out to
steal, kill and destroy what God designed for us
(Jn 10.10). And who among us has not cried out
with the Apostle Paul, "Wretched person that I am!
Who will set me free from the body of this death?"
(Rom 7.24) Got some stuff you desperately want to
be free
from?
But
still sin
wins.
We
listen to sermons and read books about the
victorious Christian life. It sounds wonderful and
we want it. We'd like to beat back the bad ways
and claim success. But, as Jerry Bridges notes,
one of the main hindrances to dealing with sin is
that our attitude towards it is more
self-centered than God-centered
.
We
are more concerned with our own victory over sin
than the fact that our sin grieves the heart of
God. We want to defeat it with sheer determination
and glory in our achievement. However, sin is
not about breaking the rules but ruining a
relationship - our relationship with
Him.
Our
preoccupation with success hinders our pursuit of
holiness. We are discouraged by our failure to
defeat sin chiefly because we are
success-oriented, not because we know it offends
the Father. It might dramatically change our
approach if we grasped the biblical truth that
God wants us to walk in obedience - not
victory . Obedience is oriented towards God;
victory is oriented toward
self.
The
gospel declares that victory over sin belongs
to Christ, not us. He has already conquered the
power of sin and death (1 Cor 15.55-57). In
another place, the Apostle Paul urged us to
"consider ourselves dead to sin, and alive to God
through Christ Jesus" (Rom 6.11). Victory was
established at the Cross. Our response is to "not
let sin reign in our mortal bodies" (Rom
6.12). We obediently "present the members of
our bodies as instruments of righteousness to God"
(Rom
6.13).
As
long as we see our sin as "inevitable" and
"unbeatable" we will be its victim. How much
better to desire God above everything, quit
dwelling on our failure, and make some obedient
life-choices that will please Him rather than
pain
Him.
"Lord,
we desire You; help us in our
undesire!"
In HOPE
-
David
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