A young man sits alone in his room. At one time he found himself engrossed in cheap, filthy novels. To day he is a Christian and no longer indulges in such a pitiful practice—nor does he need to—for cemented in his mind, haunting him, is the clear memory of the words, thoughts and pictures which were implanted there years ago. Today he is frustrated, uneasy and hindered in his Christian experience because he is haunted by careless moments of sin in days now past, and he knows not how to be free. A mature adult, possibly a Sunday school teacher or a trustee of the church, goes about his life with an earnest zeal for the things of Christ. And yet, every once in a while, and ever so subtly, old pangs of desire are resur rected in his mind which cause him to long for that which he had at one time known in sin. Possibly a televi sion commercial reminds him of a forbidden past; per haps an old friend recalls a degrading entertainment; or someone in casual conversation suggests a harmful habit to which this adult was once addicted. To be sure these people, as thousands of us, do not care to be reminded of these things. Rather they have learned to despise them and would not of their own choosing flirt with them again. However, in spite of their driving compassion to follow Christ, in spite of their honest intentions to break with their past, they are still enslaved to an haunting memory. They are guilty of underestimating the power of sin and the long evity of its effects. For those thousands of Christians who suffer from this malignancy, there need not be the feeling of absolute hopelessness in this matter. Rather for those who are willing to go to war against these ghostly intruders, for those who are determined to battle the eerie shadows that speak to them from the dark past; for these people there is freedom and victory if they are but willing to combat them in the correct way—a way which we be lieve God has instigated. I. Use the Christian Plan. The most obvious and sim ple of all possible solutions becomes neither when mis understood and misapplied. God tells us in I John of•a plan whereby He will forgive daily sins if the Christian wants them forgiven. “If we confess our sins, he is faith ful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If we are not willing to begin here and willing to lay our sins daily before our Heavenly Father, then we are only kidding ourselves and we are in fact not willing to fight sin’s effect on our lives. The first step must be to confess our sin and know that God has forgiven it; otherwise it is indeed impossible to be free from the torments of committed sins. We are hopelessly doomed to live with them if we are not will ing to begin here. As quickly as we suggest this first step, let us add two important warnings. (A) I John 1:9 was written only to Christians, and hence only they have the daily benefits from it; and (B) I John 1:9 was never issued as a license to sin. If we attempt to apply the emancipation of I John without .first accepting Christ as our Saviour, it is as. futile as if a person controlled by communism expected America’s Bill of Rights to protect him. It simply does not apply. There is no promise of temporary or perma nent deliverance to the person who has not surrendered his life to Christ.
The second mistake which is often committed concern ing this verse is to believe that we are free to do as we please because tomorrow we can confess it and wipe the slate clean. At best this is handling the Scripture with a criminal negligence. Rather the word “confess” means to agree with God. Tell God that you see this sin as filthy, as vile, as contemptible and as displeasing as He sees it. Surely it means nothing less than to tell God that you are disgusted with your sin. Indeed, if the Christian is willing to appropriate this verse as God intends for him to, he can know the full joy of being at peace with God. II. Keep a Tight Schedule with Sin. It is time to be coldly honest with ourselves. If we are going to play loosely and indiscriminately with sin, we are going to pay for it—both today and in the days to come. If we are going to treat sin lightly, find time to fraternize with its attractions, and in general handle it no more seriously than whim or fancy, we have little hope of de feating its recurring agony. The fight against crippling sin is a constant fight and can no more be relaxed for even a second than can armed troops on the front lines. If we are not serious enough to fight the enemy every minute, then we are doomed to days and nights of anxiety and despair. III. Do Only That which Bears Repeating. Some of the soundest advice ever given was that an individual should never do anything which he does not want to do again. The attitudes which convince us to do something “just once” are woefully few. If we do not repeat our actions physically, we do rehearse them continuously in the world of our minds. When we are drawn to the allurement of that which is questionable, we must ask ourselves if we would like to do it again; if we would like to have that picture, that taste, that craving, or that adventure etched forever upon our minds, haunting us in the hours ahead. The man or woman who is careless for a moment in his choice may well suffer the consequences during the years when he would gladly buy back that costly minute. IV. Never Fight Alone. The person who believes that he can defeat these leeches of the mind without help is probably the saddest of all people. For this person is struggling against hopeless odds while denying the assist ance of a perfect remedy. When God sent the Holy Spirit to be a comfort, encouragement, and help to the Chris tian, He intended that we should accept Him as exactly that. The Spirit of the living God is anxious to help us ward off these destructive thoughts and memories, and yet we ignore Him in our search for a solution. The Christian has the privilege of invoking the assist ance of the Holy Spirit the instant that bygone thoughts, suggestions and temptations begin to polute his mind. At that moment the Christian need but to call upon the Spirit of God to cleanse and protect his mind from the wiles of the Devil to know complete victory. The mind which houses our thoughts need not be haunted by ghosts who intrude as unwelcome guests. The individual who really cares to serve God in Christ can know the victory in this area if he is but willing to pay the price of a fearless battle against the powers of the Devil. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
thousands o f Christians suffer in this way
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DECEMBER, 1963
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