This Summer: Pick a Fight with Your Sinful Tendencies

This is part of the series "Summer is a Stewardship." 

1. Introductory post, 
2. First post. 

Pick a Fight with Your Sinful Tendencies

Our ultimate goal is to love God more and look more like our Savior. Unfortunately, our sin gets in the way of these desires by clouding our vision of God and causing us to not live in line with our new identity. Thus, every Christian wants to put his or her sin to death (John 14:21). We sin, but we hate it and repent of it. 

So, pick a fight with at least one of your sinful tendencies this summer. 

Confession and Repentance

The first step in initiating the fight is to call the sin out and side with God against it. This is confessing (that is, agreeing with God that it is wrong, foolish, and terrible). The second step is to ask God to help you fight the sin. The third step is to repent of it. This is to actively turn away from the sin and what tempts you towards it. It involves not just changes in action but in your heart. To help you do this, you might listen to this sermon by Bruce Ware on how a renewed affection for God pushes out old affections for sin. Or you could read Thomas Chalmer's sermon "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection" (click here for a pdf version for free, or buy a book version from the bookcase in the fellowship hall). Finally, part of repentance involves finding biblical truth that replaces the wrong thinking and desires and memorizing it. If you need help with this, enlist the help of a Christian friend. 

Develop New Habits

One more thing that will help in this fight. Begin new habits that will help you. Our habits are the things we do without much thought because it is what we've always done. This can be good when the habit helps you pursue Christ (for example, daily Bible reading). But, when it is something that often opens the door for sin (like laziness, overindulgence in entertainment, or checking social media incessantly), that habit hinders godliness. What habits are not helping you put on Christlike thinking and living? What habits are making provision for your enemy? "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (Romans 13:14). Developing habits takes time and consistency. Ask a friend to keep you accountable and find a way to track how you are doing in developing the new habit. 

Fight While You Have Time

So, you should fight sin vigorously this summer. Don't struggle through the summer and come back expecting to not struggle when school starts. The reality is you will likely still struggle and be pressed for time when the semester begins. And you need time to think and develop godly plans and habits. So, pick a fight with one of your sinful tendencies this summer.