Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?
–Proverbs 6:27
How do we deal decisively with sin in our lives? What do we do if immorality, impurity, evil desires, or greed have taken root? Today and tomorrow, I’m going to share with you four practical principles for dealing decisively with sin.
Number one: refuse to allow immoral thoughts to take up residence in your mind. Imagine you’re awakened at night by somebody pounding on your front door. You stumble out of bed and look through the peephole. If you don’t recognize the person, you’re not about to open the door, are you?
You can’t control who knocks on your door, but you can control whether you invite them in. In the same way, you can’t always control the thoughts that come into your mind, but you can control how you respond to those thoughts: you can invite them to stay, or you can “[take] every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Don’t let immoral thoughts take up residence in your mind; instead, confront wrong thoughts with the truth of God’s Word and dismiss them.
Number two: amputate any immoral activity in your life. In Matthew 5:29–30, Jesus said, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. . . . If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” Imagine that your arm is mangled in a car accident, and infection has set in. The doctor says, “Either we amputate your arm, or you’re going to die.” You hate to lose the arm, but it’s better than losing your life. Jesus was saying it’s better to cut immoral activity out of your life, no matter how painful or inconvenient it is to do so, than to experience the consequences of sin.
Are there magazines, television programs, or websites that incite lust in your mind? You need to cut those things out of your life. Is something or someone at your job tempting you to sin? It would be better to quit your job than to fall into immorality. Are you in a relationship that is leading you in a dangerous direction? No matter how painful it is, you need to end that relationship. Proverbs 6:27 says, “Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?” If you play with fire, you’re going to get burned. That’s why Jesus said you need to cut any immoral activity out of your life.
