Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires…
In yesterday’s post, “Party Clothes,” we talked about what it means to be the “people of God.” To illustrate, we turned to Matthew 22:1-14 where Jesus tells the parable of the Wedding Banquet.
We concluded the post with this:
“The people who accept Jesus’ offer of forgiveness are given this wedding garment. In spiritual terms, we are talking about party clothes for the most amazing event in the history of the universe.”
Now Peter continues his thought with what it means to put on and wear the righteousness of Christ. He begins with, “abstain from sinful desires.”
Okay.
How do I do that?
Have you ever gone on a diet, or better yet, fasted? It is simple to do, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. It goes something like this. Normally this is the conversation I have with my body:
My body says, “I’m hungry.”
My brain responds, “Okay, I hear that. I don’t like you when you are hungry. You are a lot nicer when I feed you.” So I head over to the refrigerator or the munchie cabinet and look for something to appease my body. After that, everything is fine until the next time my body says, “I’m hungry.” (Or until I step on the scales and discover I am up another five pounds.)
When I’m trying to lose those five pounds (and others I’ve acquired along the way) I tell myself, “Self, you need to eat less.”
“Okay,” I say. And that is that … until about five minutes later when my body says, “I’m hungry,” again. So I say, “No,” and my body just says, “I’m hungry,” again like it didn’t hear me. Well, you know what happens after that.
Putting on Jesus’ righteousness, the “wedding garments” he talks about in the parable, is like putting on your parent’s shoes when you were a little kid. You can put them on but they don’t really fit. The same is true for the righteousness of Christ. We can put it on, but we have a lot of growing to do before we can even begin to think of walking in his shoes.
Application: Just because the righteousness of Christ makes us feel small, like a kid again, doesn’t mean we can’t keep trying.
Food for Thought: How do we tell if a desire is ”sinful” or not?
If a desire is clearly out of God’s will as revealed in Scripture it is sinful. So is not doing what He asked. God’s stated word reveals some of what He does not want us to do (worship other gods, take the name of the Lord in vain, murder, stealing, lying, coveting, doing any of those things in our hearts, being prideful, etc.) and some of what He does want us to do (worship God, Love God and others, share Christ, be selfless, imitate Christ’s moral character, all the one another’s, etc.). This means we must know God’s word and obey it. It also means that in things not clearly identified in Scripture, we seek to glorify God rather than self (see Romans 14). Of course, we want to be operating in the Spirit and not the flesh (Galatians 5: 16 – 26). These are some practical guidelines to help us identify the source of a desire. Usually, I feel like I know if a desire is sinful or not, I then have to choose whose will I want to submit to – that tends to be the hard part.
Rich,
Thank you for this excellent overview. I feel like this would be a great topic for a discussion. There are many aspects to what constitutes “sinful.” There is also the question of whether something can be sinful for one person and not another. (1 Corinthians 8-9)
All that said, I REALLY appreciate you NOT including my trips to the refrigerator in your list! 🙂
Good Job Rich,
Jeff, I’ll talk with you another day .
Any desire which leads to our separation from God or causes another to stumble is sinful. Jesus explained our desires do not have to be physically acted on to be sinful. to lust in our hearts is a sinful act. God has provided us with His word, Jesus left so the Holy Spirit could come to dwell in our hearts, comfort, convict and teach each of us, and we have the prayers of others.
Ron,
I really appreciate your summation: A desire is sinful if it leads us away from God. Well said!
This post and all the comments were very convicting, in a good way. I don’t have anything to add that hasn’t already been said, but just wanted to say it was good to read this and hear what others had to share.
Hi NMPO3PISdn
I’m always glad you stop by! I appreciate knowing that God’s Word and our discussion here has touched you in a good way.
👍🏻