June 5
“Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness” (Romans 6:12-13a)
This resisting principle, “Refuse temptation immediately, decisively, and persistently” is a very powerful principle but is one of the hardest to master, in my opinion. It is relatively easy to do this with regard to temptations that are repulsive to us, such as when a seeming random thought to do such and such a repulsive thing pops into our heads. It is relatively easy to refuse those evil ideas immediately and not allow ourselves to become enticed by them or entertain the thought of them in our minds.
But what about sins that we continually struggle with because they are appealing to us and sins that we aren’t so convinced are evil? What about temptations to commit sins that seem so appealing to us at certain times, and only later, after we commit the sin, are our eyes opened to how evil and worthless that sin really was? And then we repeat this cycle again and again. What about the sins that we struggle with day after day that at times seem almost impossible to resist? How do we refuse these temptations immediately, decisively, and persistently? That is the real challenge and crucial skill.
The first step in this, of course, is what we discussed on previous days, particularly the principle of recognizing what is temptation and how we are tempted to sin. As we discussed previously, many of us stumble in ways that we don’t even recognize or see, so obviously we have to know confidently and clearly that something is temptation if we are to be able to refuse it immediately, decisively, and persistently.
The next piece in this puzzle, it seems to me, is to keep in our minds that this particular thing is evil. We need to be regularly asking God to show us the true nature of that particular sin, the true source and the true end of the thing, and to give us a hatred for the sin (Psalm 97:10). We need to clearly see the pain and destruction that it causes, and we need to ask God to keep these things in our minds and not let us forget them.
I think that this is our biggest challenge in refusing temptation immediately, decisively, and persistently: hating the thing that tempts us and keeping that hatred of it fresh and ever present in our hearts and minds. When we hate evil and hate the thought of doing a particular evil thing, when we are so focused on the Lord that the thought of grieving Him and giving His enemies an opportunity to mock Him is grievous to us, then it is much easier to refuse temptation. If ever we forget that the thing is evil, or if ever we begin thinking it is not all that bad or that God won’t mind if we indulge just a little, then we are setting ourselves up for failure and stumbling.
The only way to be successful in refusing temptation immediately, decisively, and persistently is to not be deceived about the thing but to fully understand and believe that it is evil. Think about the sins you struggle with. Is this not at the root of why we still stumble in them, because we enjoy or even crave them at times or are deceived by their appeal? Pray that you would see your sin as it is and hate it as the Lord hates it. This is the first key step in overcoming temptation immediately, decisively, and persistently.