My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And
if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous
(1 John 2:1).
People who are caught in the sin-confess-sin-confess-sin-confess cycle
eventually begin to lose hope that they can experience any real victory over
sin. Sheer willpower can't keep them from repeating the sin they just confessed,
and Satan pours on the condemnation. Self-control seems like an illusion, and
the Christian life is one of unending ups and downs.
Suppose there is a door you are commanded not to open. On the other side of the
door is a dog that keeps insisting, "Come on, let me in. Everybody is doing it.
You deserve to have a little fun. Who will know? You can get away with it." So
you open the door and the dog roars in and bits you on the leg. Ironically, the
dog instantly changes its story: "You opened the door. I have a right to be
here. You'll never get away with this!" If such a thing happened, would you beat
on the dog or on yourself?
Sin which is allowed to reign is like the dog that bits you on the leg and won't
let go. Not realizing there is a dog, you beat on yourself for leaving the door
open and cry out to God for forgiveness. He forgives you, but the dog is still
there. Why not cry out to God and beat on the dog instead of yourself? James 4:7
tells us, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
We are correct in confessing our sin, but we have failed to follow the complete
biblical formula which breaks the cycle: sin-confess-resist. We must first
assume our responsibility for opening the door, then we must resist Satan and
command him to leave if we are going to experience victory over sin.
We live as though God and a sick humanity are the only realities in the
spiritual realm. We must turn to our righteous Advocate (1 John 2:1) and resist
our perverted adversary if we are to experience victory and freedom over
temptation and sin.
Dr. Anderson, Freedom in Christ and Harvest House Publishers
www.ficm.org
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
messages. HTML and plain text versions available.
The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.