F*** You (an ode to sin)
John 8:32 (NLT)
And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
1 Peter 2:11 (NLT)
Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
Self control.
Also known as the final piece listed in the fruits of the Spirit.
An outward sign that the inward has experienced genuine change.
Perhaps the last thing you would think of when I mention “self control” is violence. Or a phrase like I used for the title of today’s devotional. But a certain tenacious and furious assault on our sin and sinful nature is necessary to quell the flesh and seek after the Object of our Joy- Jesus Christ. We have become much too comfortable with our sin, usually justifying it away with such clever catch phrases as “God’s grace is sufficient” and “God loves sinners.” We’ve called a truce with it, instructing it not to cross into certain taboo areas while allowing it to flourish in the “innocent” aspects of our lives. We rationalize: our desires are no longer evil…only misguided; our behavior isn’t abhorrent…simply our instinct.
Maybe it’s the old punk rocker in me but I’ve reached the point in my life where I want to throw one hand in the air with my spiritual middle finger stuck up and the other balled into a fist, confront my sin, and scream, “F*** you sin! I’m not going to be your friend, You won’t use me any longer. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, I will dispose of your whole system, throw a wrench in your whole malevolent machine." To echo the words of our vigilant author, that we will kill “all lust in ourselves and our enslaving desires for food or caffeine or sugar or chocolate or alcohol or pornography or money or the praise of men and the approval of others or power or fame…against all impulses in our own soul toward racism and sluggish indifference…” (102-103)
Self control has little to do with passivity. And more to do with aggressive action. So throw that fist in the air and fight your sinful nature. Viva la revolucion!
