Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from
sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that,
though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the
day He visits us
(1 Peter 2:11-12).
What comes to mind when the word abstinence is brought up
has a great deal more to do with our present culture than to the word itself. If you were
to ask someone today what they think about "abstinence" you would probably not
be surprised to hear an answer pertaining to the other person's viewpoint on sexual
restraint and promiscuity. But let's see if we can broaden our view of this word to
encompass the ideas Peter was trying to convey to the readers of his letter.
While sexual abstinence is an important issue, it hardly touches the surface of the broad
spectrum of the "sinful desires, which war against the soul." sexual sin gets a
great deal of attention as do other sins that seem to be the "bad" ones--ones
that make our jaws drop or perhaps peak our interests--or perhaps even still, provide us a
good conversational topic. But the sins that truly so easily beset us seldom climb to
reach the heights of the perceived "top ten" of the "Worst Sins" list.
Peter warns us to "abstain from sinful desires, which war against the soul." And
if our attentions are drawn to the so called "bad" sins, we will easily overlook
the subtle sins that will keep us held captive to them, so that we do not experience the
freedom we should know in Christ.
One particular subtle sin is the sin of the "I's." It is, unfortunately, a sin
that holds many of us within its grip. As most sins, the sin of the "I's" begins
within the heart. It may take the shape of discontentment, feelings of uneasiness,
feelings of need or desires to be heard, liked, understood, desired, adored, etc. Whatever
shape it takes, it will quickly draw a person's attentions and focus inward, to where what
is seen first and foremost is what, "I want," "I feel," " I
need," " I deserve," or "I don't" want, feel, need, or deserve.
To put it simply, the sin that so easily besets us is self-centeredness. This might in
fact be the root of all sin, for all sin springs from a desire to please self regardless
of what God wants for us.
It is a simple thing that we see our selfishness as the root of our sin, yet it is
profoundly odd that we, knowing this about selfishness, would be as sheep led astray
because we long for greener grass.
In our seeking to draw near to God, we know we must abstain from sinful desires. To
abstain, we first must stop neglecting the "lesser sins," for they are the
subtle sins that will beset us, defeat us and draw us further away from God to look for
the presumed "greener grass."
The subtle lies of the devil will lead us to rationalize reasons to possess that which
pleases us. But the truth of Christ will lead us to deny ourselves and take up our crosses
daily and follow Him. How long will we go on believing Satan's lies? He took Jesus to the
top of a mountain and offered Him the world--Jesus refused. But the devil has tempted us
with a few creature comforts in this life, and we have bought the lie--hook, line and
sinker. |