How many times have you sat watching TV and suddenly, the characters are all spouting off expletives? How many times have you let loose a “tiny white lie,” justifying that it’s technically true, true in a sense, partly true, or you’re going to make it true, or truer soon? How many times have you been watching a movie and the characters are implying, engaging in, or alluding to past or present affairs, sexual relations, or similar activities? How many times have you let a cross attitude spoil your day – and the days of others around you – by being ungrateful or prideful or or self-pitying or simply annoyed? How many times have you not immediately changed the channel, apologized and told the truth, stopped the movie, repented and become cheerful?
Truthfully, as a Christian, how many times do you let sin from outside influences and from your own self, taint your everyday life? How many times have we, as Christians, not repetitively, constantly, carefully, banished sin from our lives? Why don’t we?
God gave me an analogy to share with you, to parallel to these questions:
My friend, Josh, has extreme peanut allergies. Even being in the vicinity of peanuts, to breath them, could trigger an attack. He has to keep a careful distance from the offending food, and alert others around him to his allergy if need be.
Do you see the parallel here? God says we must avoid sin when we’ve become born again.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” –2 Corinthians 5:17
“Abstain from all appearance of evil.” –1 Thessalonians 5:22
“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” –2 Timothy 2:22
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” –Colossians 2:8
“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
“For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
“In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:” –Colossians 3:5-11
“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” –1 Peter 1:13-16
We need to make ourselves allergic to sin – deathly allergic. We need to deny it any and all permission to stake even the smallest claim on our lives. As C.J. Mahaney said in his book Humility: True Greatness, we must be on the offensive from the start of our day.
“Sin – including especially the sin of pride – is active, not passive. Sin doesn’t wake up tired, because it hasn’t been sleeping. When you wake up in the morning, sin is right there, fully awake, ready to attack.”
So get on the offensive! Attack back! God has given each of us “the spirit…of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” –2 Timothy 1:7
Use that power! Fight with all you have in Christ.
There will be mistakes and failures and stumbling and falling, but “[God's] grace is sufficient for thee.” –1 Corinthians 12:9
Give him your life, and He will help you build up a lifelong “allergy” to sin.
