SIN-GUARD

There is a very real and malicious force at work in your life. It's your sinful nature, and it never stops trying to get the best of you. The apostle Paul expresses it in these terms; “But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:20). That sounds close to, “Don't blame it on me!  The devil made me do it.” But Paul is not saying that. You cannot shift the blame for your actions to anyone or anything else, but you do need to be aware that your sinful nature is a very real, very powerful, very destructive presence in your life.

Since the time you accepted Jesus Christ into your life, you have two natures — almost like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You have a higher nature, a new nature that you received when God's Spirit came to dwell within you. And you have the resident old nature, the sinful nature, whose presence remains with you as long as you are flesh and bones. This nature never gives up. It never stops trying to get the best of you. It works against your desires to be holy. It sabotages your efforts to be good. Paul intimates this saying; “But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me” (Romans 7:8, 11). Notice the phrase — “Sin took advantage.” That's what the sinful nature does. It looks for opportunity to be sinful. It never stops trying to get the best of you.

Please understand, sin will do what it can to wipe you out. It will do what it can to destroy you. It is looking for an opportunity to mess up your life. For several years now we’ve had a problem in the neighborhood. Houses are being broken into and property has been damaged or stolen. According to the Neighborhood App this has happened to several homes in our area. So guess what I did. I had a security system installed. Why did I do this? Because I realized there was a malicious presence in our neighborhood, roaming the streets unobserved, looking for opportunities to make trouble. So I put up my guard.

There is a need to be aware of the same thing in your spiritual life, and take the same kind of action. You need to realize that there is a malicious presence in your life — your old sinful nature — that roams about your life, looking to seize an opportunity to make you miserable. You have an enemy, and that enemy is the old you. Be aware, and beware.

So what must you do about it? Turn the locks. Bolt the door. Don't give it an opportunity. If you can't behave when you go online, then don't go online. Or put your computer in the den, not in your study. If you can't watch a ball game without losing your temper, then give up ball games. If you can't go to the mall without blowing your paycheck, then stay away from the mall. Be aware of the fact that you have an enemy, your sinful nature, and it is always trying to get the best of you. If you give it an inch, it'll take a mile. So be on guard.