Fighting Sin!

The idea behind this meme is very unhelpful in the fight against sin. It reminds me of the classic Bob Newhart clip where he simply says, “Stop it!” As much as we might want to use this method, it obviously doesn’t work.

However, I would like to point out an observation that might help. I think there is something to be noticed (be warned) from the swiftness of this scene. In a matter of 4 verses that can be read in about 30 seconds, David is absent in battle to the impregnating of a woman who is married and it’s not to David.

I would suggest that sin moves quickly in our hearts. Whether David should have been in battle or not is somewhat irrelevant. The same thing could have happened out in the field of battle. It’s how you respond to temptation wherever you are that you need to be concerned with.

Read the passage:

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.
3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” – 2 Samuel 11:2-5

What could he have done?

Maybe it’s hard for kings with such power to have advisers who are godly and do not mind losing their job (or life) by reminding him of God’s law but I would suggest having those kind of people around you.

Recognize that success will do things to your heart. Seeing those signs of pride may indicate that you need to step away. The world will continue on without you, I promise.

Another thing, when you see something like David did, act fast in opposition. Start saying out loud what the consequences would be if you do this all the while praying that God would forgive you for even entertaining the thought. Let’s be people who take our thoughts captive instead of being captive of our thoughts.

We never know how we will respond in temptation. Therefore you already need to be satisfied in Jesus daily and be satisfied with your wife (and I mean in more ways than one). If you are full then you will not need.

Do you have suggestions on fighting sin?