Monday // 5th August 2024
The chains of sin!
“The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast.”
Proverbs 5:22
When you sin, you tie yourself up. The sinner is a slave to sin (see John 8:34), while the believer is free to do the will of God (John 8:36). Someone said, “Worldly people imagine that the saints must find it difficult to live with so many restrictions, but the bondage is with the world, not with the saints.”
The voice of temptation says: “You’re really struggling with lust. If you would just watch that porno flick, you would get that release you so desperately need. You’d be free from that oppression! Go ahead. It will bring relief.” What a lie! The only thing watching that filth will produce is a desire–and need–to watch another unclean movie. Sin leads to more sin. In the wise words of Ecclesiastes, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). You always want more! Greed cannot be satisfied with possessions; drug addiction cannot be satisfied with a great high; lust cannot be satisfied with a one-night stand; pride cannot be satisfied with promotion and fame. That’s why Proverbs tells us that the eyes of a man are never satisfied (Proverbs 27:20)–and every honest man reading this can testify that this is true. Otherwise, sir, one glance at that bikini-clad woman would have been enough, wouldn’t it? Why did you have to look again . . . and again?
That’s the way sin operates–in the little things as well as the large, in lying as well as lusting, in stealing a candy bar as well as robbing a bank. The promised fulfillment is fleeting. Before we committed the sinful act, we made a firm resolve “to do this one thing only this one time, and to do nothing more like it ever again.” What happened?
But if you submit to God and resist the devil (James 4:7), the power of temptation and sin is broken. And every time you sin, it becomes harder for you to resist and easier to yield. You get weakened, and you lose your resolve to fight. That’s why the time to say “No” is now–before the ropes hold you fast.
Your brother in Christ,
Apostle Ashok Martin