John Owen, the great Puritan theologian, said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” That is heavy to think about. Let that weigh on your mind for a few moments.
Once you become a Christian, you are in a war. Your spirit will be fighting against your old sinful desires. Sin is relentless. It will come at you in all sorts of ways. It will come through your actions, thoughts, things you see or hear, and temptation. The best way to do this is to realize what you have to help you fight.
You have fellow Christians who are fighting the war with you. Learn from them. Let them come alongside you and fight with you. Let them mentor you. Let them disciple you and train you. When you or another Christian stumbles, seek to reconcile them back to fellowship with Jesus. Don’t kick a fellow soldier while he is down. We will refuse to live in the mindset of shooting our wounded. No man gets left behind. We want to see every person that comes to faith in Christ grow into full maturity.
This war will last until Jesus comes back or we die. Become discipled. Make disciples that make disciples. Be part of the Disciple cycle.
The truth is on your side. The Gospel of Christ. Let it penetrate you to the core of your soul. Let it pierce you and cut out what does not conform you to the image of Christ. Let it influence you in thoughts and actions.
Ephesians 6:10-18 lists out your armor that is designed for your protection.
- The belt of truth
- breastplate of righteousness
- shoes for your feet so that you can run with the message of the Gospel
- the shield of faith
- the helmet of salvation
There is only one offensive weapon. The sword. The Word of God. In 2015, I like to think of that as a gun. Pull the trigger! Cut down sin before it gets a hold on you.
Do not hesitate. Do not become comfortable. Comfortable leads to complacency. Complacency leads to stagnation. Stagnation leads to death. Pull the trigger!
Verse 12 of Ephesians 6:
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
A soldier that does not know his weapon is a dead soldier. I encourage you to get in the precious Word of God. Get in the Bible and let the Bible get into you. If you get cut or shot, you should bleed the Bible. Know your weapon. Study it well. It will become a part of you.
Know your enemy. Your enemy is like a roaring lion. He roams seeking someone to devour. He is not cute. He is not cuddly. He is deadly.
He is a liar. He is a thief. He is a deceiver. He is a master of disguise. He masquerades around as an angel of light trying to hide the fact that he leads the kingdom of darkness. His strategies and tactics have not changed. He continues to use them because they are effective.
We are in a war.
Go hard or go home!
When Jesus returns, He will bring real peace. The struggle against sin, flesh, the devil, the cosmic powers and principalities will be over.
Until then, fight.
Make war.
Pull the trigger!
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Scott,
Thank you. I have been working especially this past year on developing my “writing voice.” I want to take the truths of the Bible and write them in ways that help people understand what they mean.
Slamet, I like lightsabers too. In fact, I plan on seeing the new Star Wars movie when it comes out. I may even write a review on my blog. I am not sure yet what I think of the new lightsaber.
Jimmy, this is a great article. It reminds me of Jacob Böhme’s Dying to Sin in a more modern hermeneutic. Thank you.
Thank you for a great article. Me, I still prefer a sword – the light saber kind.