Refocusing Your Affection Repels Sin
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Luke 12:34 (KJV)
When my sons were younger, my wife, Gloria and I created chores in order to champion personal responsibility and stamp out the seductive spirit of slothfulness. On one occasion one of my sons was instructed to clean his room and complete his homework before playing with his toys or watching a video or television. The expectation of his parents was well established and he was fully aware of the consequences for not carrying out his responsibility. After an hour had passed I decided to check on his progress. To my surprise, he selected something he deemed more important than cleaning his room and doing his homework. He had paid my instruction no attention therefore I immediately got his attention with my good friend R.O.D. also known as the “Reminder of Discipline” in my home (Proverbs 13:24). Before the application of the R.O.D., I asked my son why he chose to be disobedient. His answer was simple: Because he wanted to do something else.
As children of God there are instances in which we are no different. We choose to sin because that is what we want to do. Did you know that the decision to sin is deliberate and it directs us to death via separation from God?
”Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2 (KJV)
I submit to you that by refocusing our affections, we will capture consistent victory over our sins. As children who are obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ we should align our affections with His and thereby grasp the gravity of our sin. Sin is not cool, calm and collective but contemptible, chaotic and catastrophic! Sin is an act of death.
“For the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23a (KJV)
As followers of Christ we must not conform, capitulate or cower to the call and claims of a culture that dismisses the destructive nature of sin. I encourage you to consider the follow points that will help us refocus our affections and reward us with victory over our sins.
1. Silence the call of sin by setting our affections on Christ as opposed to our appetites.
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:1-2 (KJV)
Deeply loved of God nothing thumps temptation like a good view of Christ!
2. Accurately assess sin with an anointed attitude.
“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” Proverbs 8:13 (KJV)
Puritan John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress described sin this way "Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power and the contempt of His love."
3. Be deliberate when dealing with sin by:
Singling out the sin with which you are struggling;
Select and saturate your mind with several scriptures that specifically address that sin
Write on paper a specific strategy that will sanctify yourself from sin that solidifies your weakness
By applying these principles, you will be well on your way to addressing sin in a manner that is honoring and pleasing to the Lord.
For the Glory of God,
PBKSR