I could of course choose to sin and eat all the cake I want! If I chose this road I would find great pleasure in eating the cake. After all, sin is pleasurable for the moment ( Hebrews 11:25). However, the pleasure of sin is a fleeting one and the results of my disobedience to God would be very unpleasant. If I am really a believer in Christ such capitulation would leave me with Godly sorry, a deep grief at having offended the heart of God. This sorrow would produce confession and repentance on my part and forgiveness from God. The choice to give in to the temptation is never a good one.
A second option is to fight the urge to eat chocolate cake with all of the willpower I could muster. I could muster my strength, give myself reasons for not eating cake and do all I could to convince myself eating cake is a bad thing. There is a major problem with this option in that it keeps my mind focused on the sin! This option keeps me focused on the temptation and the "law" of right and wrong. The entire time I am mustering and utilizing my willpower I am committing two critical mistakes: trusting in my own strength for victory over sin and remaining in the occasion of the temptation. As long as I keep cake on the kitchen table and consider why I am not supposed to eat it, I create a situation in which I am certain to fail. In the face of such circumstances I will eventually succumb to temptation and eat cake!
There is one other alternative in my battle against chocolate cake; I can actually take the way of escape and die to the sin itself. Scripture teaches there is always a way of escape when temptation calls our name. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." "Escape" implies a removal of oneself from the circumstance of temptation. The apostle Paul refers to this removal as "dying to sin" in Romans 6:2. The "kicker" is that we must continually choose death to sin in order for sin to be powerless in our life. Sin is alive and has great power to hurt our life if we do not choose to die to it when it appears in our life.
Dying to sin means removing oneself from the occasion of sin and putting one's mind on Christ instead of the temptation to sin. For instance, dying to chocolate cake means not baking cake, not buying cake, removing cake from my house and not thinking about cake. Dying to cake means when the thought of cake enters my mind I immediately pray, ask God to keep my mind off cake and intentionally put my mind on Christ so He can put my mind on the way of "escape." If I linger on the thought of cake I have chosen to give sin "life" and fight it in my own willpower again. Death to cake means total removal of cake from my thoughts (I don't fantasize about how good cake tastes) ,words (I don't talk about how good cake tastes) and deeds (I don't even nibble on cake!). But death to cake means life to something else, my relationship with Christ. Instead of being controlled by cake I am controlled by Christ and the life of freedom He gives me.
This little analogy may seem silly but consider for a moment the people in your life who are controlled by sin instead of Christ. How many people do you know who are continually defeated by sin because they fight against it using their own strength of character and willpower? Many people in our life need the message of the "chocolate cake!" Maybe you yourself are controlled by sin. Christ gives freedom to those who choose death to sin and life in Him. If you are controlled by sin be encouraged! You don't have to fight against sin and win the battle over it using your own willpower anymore! Die to sin and choose life in Christ. The power of Christ is all you need but you must choose life in Him!
James
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