July 8
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” (Romans 13:14)
The third reason why we might stumble again after being so determined to overcome sin is that we fail to remove from our lives things that tempt us and make us stumble. We make provisions for the flesh, something we discussed way back under Rebuilding Principle 3: REMOVE everything from your surroundings that makes you stumble. Please refer back to that principle for a refresher on this important topic.
John MacArthur once said, “The way to defeat the flesh is to not feed it anything.” Our problem is that even when we think we would never fall for sin again, even when we have resolved to never go there again and therefore we think we can’t or won’t, we easily can and often will go back to sin if we expose ourselves to it. Exposure to sinful lusts, especially if it is related to addictive type substances or pornography, can very quickly cloud our minds and arouse powerful fleshly desires which will wage war with our souls. I might even go as far as to say that if we have put ourselves into a position to be enticed by something that has made us stumble in the past, we have already made the decision to sin and most likely will fall into it.
A true resolve to overcome temptation starts with a resolve to not put yourself in position where you could be tempted in the first place. I cannot emphasize this point enough. We will never gain the victory if we keep exposing ourselves to temptation or putting ourselves in a position where we are flirting with temptation or skirting the edge of it. Even if we think our resolve is strong, it is amazing how easily we will forget that resolve, our minds will become fuzzy and double-minded, our old nature will take control, and we will find ourselves spiraling closer and closer to sin until the sin is consummated and it is controlling us.
In some situations, we are taken by surprise by sin. We did not expect it to show up, or we weren’t thinking that such and such a circumstance would put us in a position to be tempted by the person or thing. In these cases, where we have not intentionally put ourselves into a position of being tempted, we have to cry out to God for deliverance, remember our resolve to overcome and reason why we must overcome, and then get out of the situation and away from the thing tempting us as quickly as we can.
Intentionally putting ourselves in or remaining in the presence of temptation will quickly pour cold water on any fire of determination to overcome and remain holy and keep from sin. Drumming up resolve to overcome is much, much more difficult once the temptation has begun to draw us in. Therefore, it is essential to guard carefully the desire, determination, and resolve to overcome. It is much more fragile that we might think, and just because we say we will never do such and such again will not make it so. There is a lot more to gaining the victory than a few promises and our own confident resolve, no matter how sincere it is.
If wishy-washiness and double-mindedness with sin describes you, as it certainly has for me at times, cry out to God and ask Him for a single-minded purpose, a clean heart and mind that only and forever desires Him and His righteousness. Ask Him to remove from you a double-minded heart that loves and is easily enticed by your own fleshly lusts. Ask Him, and keep continually asking Him day after day, for purity of heart and mind and victory over fleshly lusts for the rest of your life, that you may please and glorify Him who called you and bought you rather than be enslaved to sin.