For the child of God we often talk of the looming battles that face us in life. We caution 12-20 year olds that there are going to arise new temptations such as lust, lying, cheating, and other sins that will start bombarding them as they navigate the teenage years. We strive with 18-22 year olds who are leaving for college to be wary of all the freedom that college brings, because with that freedom comes more temptations, and occasions to deviate from the path of God. As we "mature" into adulthood we still impress the need to vigilant because the temptations are on every door step, and the pitfalls around every turn. When we examine these situations we have to realize that there is one constant variable in this equation: The Individual.
While thinking on these things I realized that all too often we characterize the battles in our lives with temptations as just that: a battle. We do this because there are passages of Scripture, such as Romans 7, that paints a picture of a one one one, mono y mono, fight between the child of God and whatever sin is attacking us that day. We tend to isolate each sin as an individual assassin who is trying to attack, infiltrate, and destroy us. In our discussions with young men, in particular, we identify their main enemy as lust, we give them strategies to attack that enemy, ammunition, fall back positions, ect. (excuse my overly used military analogies) all in the effort of equipping that child of God to do battle with their enemy. We use scriptures like "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7 KJV), and "Put on the whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:11 KJV) as a means to support this battlefield mentality. You get the picture of the child of God standing in armour, waiting for the attack with sword and shield in hand, ready to fight off any onslaught that is coming. The problem with taking this analogy in that direction is its the wrong direction. The hardest battles we fight are not some outside opponent assaulting the gates, but the nature of our hearts.
Paul in Romans 7 AND 8 addresses this very issue. He states in Romans 7 that he "serves the law of God with the mind; but with the flesh the law of sin." Paul states in Romans 7 that even though he kept the law of God in his mind his flesh, working through sin, would corrupt the law of God, and cause him to sin even more. "I had not known sin, but by the law", he says, "but sin, taking occasion...wrought in me all manner of concupiscence." (v.7-8). He basically says the law taught me what was sin, but then once I knew what was sin the flesh made me desire that sin even more. That is how the child of God is today still. We know what lust is because God tells us what is lust. However, when we know what it is to lust, and even though we know it is a sin against God, the flesh (sinful) side of us pushes us to desire it even more. Now going back to our military analogy: In this instance our current method of dealing with this issue is to equip the child of God with all sorts of tools, and practices to keep lust at bay. We use books like "Every Man's Battle" to try and coach a child of God in avoidance as a means to starve the flesh. Basically a war of attrition. Now there is nothing wrong with this book, and there is nothing wrong with that approach.....until it fails. Which it will ultimately do because we are not addressing the "heart" of the issue.
Matthew 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
Here Christ tells us the issue with this person isn't the outward look, but the heart. That is where we come back to with the child of God. We can put on all the armour we want, we can set up boundaries, and guidelines to keep us from lust, but in our hearts if we desire lustful things we will always fail. Armour can protect a soldier from an arrow, but not from a heart attack. With this in mind we turn back to Romans 8 which is where Paul turned from Romans 7. Given the nature of knowledge of sin, and subsequent resulting sin from that knowledge Paul ends Romans 7 with "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?.....I thank GOD through JESUS CHRIST." As Paul then continues his thoughts into chapter 8 he tells us that we still have the issue of the mind serving through knowledge the laws of God, the flesh still being present with us, pushing us to follow the laws of death, but now a new character comes on scene: The Spirit. "...That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (v. 4) Now there is a way out. The battle isn't a mono y mono warfare of a well equipped child of God, who through training, and diligence has "whooped" this devil, but rather a realization that my mind and my flesh will fail me if I'm not rooted in the Spirit of God.
Paul goes on to tell us how this Spirit working in accord with Jesus Christ takes care of all things pertaining to our care through intercession, and "groanings which cannot be uttered". So the battle plan needs to be changed. Yes there are steps, guidelines that can be implemented in the short term to help shut down some of the outward influences a child of God faces, but if the issue of the heart is not addressed then the walls are only protecting a rotting inside. The child of God instead must rely on humble prayer to God for the changing of his/her heart, as well as verses such as Romans 6:10 which assure us that we are indeed dead to sin through the amazing works of Jesus Christ. It's not a matter of trying to become dead to sin, or killing the sin ourselves, but rather accepting the fact that Jesus crucified our lust, ect, on the cross. Let us then not let sin reign in our mortal bodies. I have found in thinking on these things recently that in my own life this is the issue I've always had: accepting the battle as one I had to fight, and the sin as something that will always defeat me...eventually. However the scripture in Romans 8 tells us we are MORE than conquerors through HIM. We must then quit accepting defeat, and rather accept the fact that Christ has already won the battle, He is the Captain of our Salvation, and go to Him for our fight instead to our own devices. Through reliance of Christ we can look the devil in the face, resist him, and he WILL flee from us.
