I often have heard people blame the devil for their sin, but how much of our sin is simply due to the fact that we love sin? James 1:14 says,
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust (emphasis mine).
Do you see that? I’m not saying that the forces of evil in this world are not at work against us; I’m just saying that our rebellion is not always due to being tempted by the devil. We do his work for him when we give in to our temptations without a fight.
I have often heard people refer to their sin of choice as “their demons,” and this phrase is typically used when someone is excusing their sin by saying that everyone else sins too. E.g. “I know I __(my sin here)__, but we all have our demons.”
A poem by Natalia Crow reads,
Some of my demons left me
Some are just asleep
A few always travel with me
Others haunt me from the deep
The little ones are charming
They are allowed to stay
The big ones tear me up inside
I wish they’d go away
Isn’t that the truth? When I bowed the knee to Jesus, some of the “demons” left me. I simply didn’t have a pull toward some sin anymore. Some of our demons lie dormant, as if asleep, but put into the right set of circumstances, they come roaring back to life.
Some demons I try to get rid of but they seem impossible to shake completely. The ones that haunt me are the ones I’ve been rid of, but the memory of them still bring me pain.
Some I don’t see as bad anymore, after all, everyone breaks the smaller laws, right? Everyone watches and listens to some things with filthy content, right? Everyone uses some bad language, right? We convince ourselves that these are the “little ones.”
Then there are the “big ones.” The ones that we’re desperate to be rid of.
In your desperation to be rid of your sin and more like Jesus, what measures do you take to find success? How are you fighting back? Are you fighting back? Have you convinced yourself that it’s hopeless to fight back and simply given in?
This is my encouragement to you: FIGHT BACK. I am here for you, and, much more important, God is here for you. Remember Christian brothers and sisters the words of 1 John 4:4,
…greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
