September 20
“I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so not present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” (Romans 6:19)
Continuing our discussion yesterday regarding the consequence of enslavement to sin all over again, it seems to me that sins of lust and immorality are perhaps the strongest of all sins, at least for me that seems to be the case. Just speculating, perhaps because sexual pleasure can be so exciting and stimulating, giving a high degree of stimulation to the mind, heart, and body. Anger does not have this effect on me, nor does anxiety, nor does laziness, or any other sin I can think of. So I suppose that this is why immorality and lust are so hard to control, once we have exposed ourselves to these evils, because they can produce such an excitement in us, at least for a time. It is like a drug we become addicted to, a high that we want to experience, even if it means violating God’s ways and His commandments. Indeed, I have read that exposure to immoral images releases chemicals in the brain that stimulate us. We need to think of it like a drug addiction, it is that serious and enslaving.
Have not all of us experienced the difficulty of regaining control of ourselves once we start giving in “just a little bit” to our sinful lusts? How many of those who dabble in pornography and immoral lusts started out viewing less immoral images and get sucked in to more and more immoral debauchery? It is because once we start down the slippery slope, the new man no longer has the upper hand; the “gravity” of sin takes over and will rapidly take us over the cliff. The only way to stop sin is to not give in to it in the first place, not even an inch. A little opening is all the flesh needs to take over and make us fall. Constant vigilance is needed for those who are weak in this area.
- Less able to control yourself and less ability to overcome sin in general; other sins sprouting up and multiplying.
In addition to being enslaved to immoral, debasing thoughts and behaviors, the immoral person opens themselves up to enslavement to other sins as well. Areas where we thought we had under control become out of control also when we subject our minds and bodies to immorality. For example the anger that we thought we had pretty well mastered now comes back with a vengeance, and we find ourselves irritable or even angry at others for things much less serious than the offenses we commit. Perhaps we are angry with ourselves and that comes out on others, further driving the wedges between those closest to us.
When we open the door to sin, we give the flesh control. Where it takes us, nobody knows. We think, when we are making the decision whether or not to do the thing, that we can take back control any time we want and that we can limit any damage that might come our way to only certain areas. But this is a delusion and a deception that is not reality. The reality is that when we give in to indulge the flesh, we give it control of our lives. Sin becomes our master, and the greater the sin, the greater the control and damage it will wield. Give up once and forever the idea that you can control sin once you let it have its way, even a little.