Genesis 4
7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.
We must rule over sin. That is a pretty heavy command the Lord has laid upon us. It refutes any notion that we are not going to face temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God will not tempt us beyond what we can bear. Supposedly, there is a way out of any temptation so that we might endure it. Why then do so many of us continue to feel like abysmal failures in our Christian walk? What is this way out?
Reading further in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul admonishes us to flee from idolatry. Is idolatry what keeps tripping us up? A common response to this thought is, “I do a lot of things wrong but I am not an idolator.” Perhaps it is time to reexamine that thought. An idol is anything that stands between us and fellowship with Christ. Consider the things you do that require you to leave Jesus at home or in another room. What do you watch? What do you listen to? What do you say? Where do you spend your time and money? What would you have to give up that would allow you to spend more time in personal worship, meditation, Bible study,and intercessory prayer? If you’re not willing or not able to give those things up, you are not fleeing from idolatry.
There is only way to salvation. It is a gift of grace from God through faith in Jesus Christ. Likewise, there is only one way to rule over the sin that crouches at our door. We must arm ourselves for spiritual battle. We must put on the full armor of God. (Ephesians 6) When sin crouches at our door seeking to devour us, we must conquer it by using the sword of the Lord, the Word of God. To effectively use any tool for battle, we must train with it. An army that sends its soldiers into battle without training them to use their weapons is sending sheep to the slaughter. They do not simply qualify once in basic training and then go out to engage the enemy. They train, and they train, and they train. Their familiarity with their weapon is what makes them efficient.
Likewise, reading a few passages every once in a while does not equip us for battle. We must immerse ourselves in the word, our assigned weapon, and train with it continuously until its use becomes second nature to us. Then when sin crouches at our door, we can engage it and we can conquer it. This is the way that God gave us to endure the temptations that we face everyday. This is God's way for us.
If you don’t have time to it God’s way, then ask yourself this question: How is your way working out for you?
