Battling A Desire For Sin

Desire...

This is the biblical root of temptation (James 1:14). When we get caught up in sin that we can't break away from, it's because that sin is what we are finding to be most desirable in our eyes. The key to battling sin is not primarily a matter of repeating to ourselves, "I'm not gonna think about it. I'm not gonna think about it. I'm not gonna think about it." This is strictly a defensive strategy and it's targeted not at the problem, but at the side affect of the problem.

The problem is that we, in that moment of sin, forget the objective fact that God is infinitely more desirable, more lovely, more joy-enhancing than this sin in our lives. It's a perspective issue.

Take marital unfaithfulness for example...

When two people get married, the last thing going through either of their minds, while standing there on the altar, is the desire for a different spouse. So how does marital unfaithfulness occur? Simple. One spouse begins to position themselves in a way where they can forget the desire they had for the other spouse. They scan facebook for an old boyfriend/girlfriend. They message them to see how things are going. They begin to vocalize intimate problems in their lives and pour out their heartaches to this other person (something they should be doing with their spouse). They meet for coffee. They adjust their schedule so as to "accidentally" run into the other person over the course of the week.

What they don't do is plan dates with their spouse. They decrease the amount of communication with their spouse. They cease to treat their spouse as they did when they were first dating. They stop reminding themselves of what they love about their spouse. They think only of the negatives in their marriage.

Battling sin is not much different. I'm grateful to John Piper for much of what I've learned on this subject. Our primary weapon in battling sin is to intentionally and continuously fight to position ourselves in a way where we can fully enjoy God and be reminded of His objective and sovereign goodness above everything else that screams the lie "I am more lovely!" in this world. When we cease to position ourselves in a way where we can more fully enjoy our Creator, we are inadvertently positioning ourselves for a fall to sin. There is no neutral. There is only forward or backward.

Subsequently, this is the motivation behind all spiritual discipline in the Christian life. When we set apart time to spend in God's Word, our motivation should not be "Because I'm suppose to"... Our hope and motivation is to be "Because God is objectively the supreme JOY and BEAUTY in the universe."Consequently, this is the motivation that sent Jesus to the cross (Heb 12:2).

Above all though, we pray. Because as Ben Stuart once illustrated, our strategy in our battle against sin is similar to building a fire: We clear an area. We place the logs. We position the kindling. But in the end, it's the Holy Spirit of God who must light the flame. So we pray, "God, stir my affections for You. Open my eyes to see that You are objectively the most desirable thing in the universe; more desirable than anything this world has to offer me."