Cry Out to God and Take Decisive Action

Dear friend,

Imagine that you are in bed at night when you hear the loud crack of breaking wood and the shrill sound of smashing glass. Soon there are footsteps pounding toward the bedrooms where you and your family sleep. From the rough voices you quickly realize a gang of enemies are in your house and they have come to do you harm. What are you going to do? Most likely, without a second thought, you will cry out to God for help and then take decisive action.

Thankfully, this kind of thing does not happen very often, but there are other more common dangers. Have you ever considered how dangerous temptation and sin are for your family? Lust, greed, lying, gossip, covetousness, stealing, unholy hate, and many other sins are enemies that break into lives and hurt them. Are you prepared to mount a defense against these things when they sneak up on you, your spouse, your children, or your friends? What can you do?

The same thing you would do if a group of bad guys attacked your home. Cry out to God for help and take decisive action. This is what the Apostle Paul does when faced with sin and temptation:

First, he cries out to God for help in Christ:

“Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God . . . Jesus Christ our Lord!” (from Rom. 7:24b-25).

Next, he takes decisive action in the battle against the threat of sin in his life:

“I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave” (1 Cor. 9:26-27).

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).

Paul’s trusts Christ to remove the penalty of sin, which he could never take care of on his own. This does not mean, however, that the apostle just sits down in comfort with the sin around him. No, he goes to war against those things that threaten spiritual harm. Let’s follow his example. Cry out to God and take decisive action!

Your servant,

Stephen