Sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth… James 1:15 (NIV)
Maybe you have seen a situation where a mature believer suddenly collapsed into a public failure. You were completely taken by surprise, and you wondered: How in all the world did that happen?
Behind the failure that was reported online, sin was building a position in that person’s life. The weeds had been growing in his thoughts, and in his affections, and in his imagination, and he allowed them to grow. And what seemed like it happened suddenly had actually been going on all along. Then suddenly it became visible.
You may be thinking, “It’s too late for me now. My sins have overtaken me.” The stronger the position of sin in your life, the harder it will be, but the more important it is for you to act now. It would have been better if you had acted last week, last year, or ten years ago, but those opportunities are gone. God only gives you today, and His grace is sufficient for you.
The struggle against the flesh is not a short battle. It is a long warfare. This warfare is never won by one prayer, by one commitment, or by one act of faith. It will be won by a sustained and relentless assault against every evidence of the sin that assails you.
John Owen writes, “[Sin] will not die except by being gradually and constantly weakened: Spare it and it heals its wounds, and recovers its strength… Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who has once smitten a snake, if he follow not on his blow until he be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so he who undertakes to deal with sin and pursues it not constantly to death.”
It is not too late to begin fighting your sin. Make the choice today to do battle against it with the Lord’s help.
