We won’t recognize evil thoughts if we do not consider them as sin. This daily devotional looks at how hating sin helps us to control our thoughts and resist Satan.
Nuggets
- We show God that we love Him by hating evil.
- We resist the devil by submitting to God.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the How Do We Live Godly Lives? series
Our thoughts are poisoned by sin. Unfortunately, instead of hating sin, we at times try to justify it. We question how far we can go without crossing the line into sin.
To recognize our evil thoughts, we have to recognize what sin is. That is the only way we can resist Satan.
Let’s take a look.
Remember, we are leaving the application until the end.
“The third sort of directions are for the ordering of evil thoughts, when they do intrude; and” (Charnock, The Sinfulness and Cure of Thoughts)
Let's Put It into Context #1
We’ve been looking at Charnock’s sermon entitled The Sinfulness and Cure of Thoughts to show us how to cleanse, a.k.a. sanctify, our thought processes. Charnock has taught us
- that we cleanse our thoughts when we return to having a strong relationship with God. We can do that by studying the Scriptures, meditating on God, contemplating on His creation, and praising Him.
- that we focus our thoughts by being humble instead of prideful, following God instead of the worldview, working instead of being idle, and laboring for Him.
- that we overcome our evil thoughts by burying ourselves in Scripture, relying on His omniscience and judgment, guarding our hearts and lips, evaluating ourselves, and recognizing evil thoughts.
Resource
Glossary
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Hating Sin
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Rom. 12: 9 ESV)
We show God that we love Him by hating evil.
“Improve them. Poisons may be made medicinable. Let the thoughts of old sins stir up a commotion of anger and hatred” (Charnock, The Sinfulness and Cure of Thoughts)
We have to show God that we hate sin. We hate what He hates.
- Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
But it isn’t just this weak, indifferent hate. We are to be disgusted with and revolted by sin. This includes what we would consider trivial acts of sin, such as our thoughts.
No, we don’t do a good enough job at hating sin. We especially can’t compromise with the worldview attitude that we have to show love by tolerating sin.
It is really important that we hate sin. Sin is what keeps us separated from God. We don’t want to be separated from Him.
This separation includes cutting off our prayer life. Prayer is a two-way communication with God in which we pour out our soul to Him.
Why doesn’t God just take away our ability to sin? If He would, He would take away our free will. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
God wants us to decide that something is a sin based on His laws and commandments. He will teach us how to conquer sin.
The focus of our hatred is all sin, not just the ones we or the world deem are sins. We hate all that God says are sins in His laws and commandments.
The way God teaches us to hate sin is by using our past sins to fuel our aversion to them. We get disgusted with ourselves for slipping back into our sinful habits.
God shows us how to mourn our repeated commission of the sins. We should be sad that we were not obedient as God expects — that we keep sinning.
God teaches us this aversion and mourning through the sanctification process. It is only through this process where we show that we hate sin does our spiritual life truly begin.
- Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration, gradually changes our nature through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal requickening in us that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- The perfected state indicates the combination of the spiritual graces which, when all are present, form spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Sanctification builds our acceptance of God’s truths. God is both the One, true Sovereign God and one Who only speaks truth itself.
We can’t just look at salvation as saving us from the bad things in this life and the next.
- Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart. Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
Glossary
We are to hate the sin in ourselves and hate the sin in others. In a way, we kind of walk a fine line. Spurgeon wrote, “The Christian man is not allowed to hate any one. But we may and must hate a man’s sins.”
So, the focus of our hatred is sin, not the person sinning. Spurgeon said that, after we hate sin in others, we should “… never countenance it, not even by a look. Often condemn it openly. Of course prudently. And do not get into it yourself.”
Resource
No, resisting sin is hard. Satan is right there to tempt us to sin. Our sinful nature is programmed to love sin, not hate it.
We need to resist Satan.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Loving God
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4: 7 ESV)
We resist the devil by submitting to God.
“Continue your resistance if they still importune thee, and lay not down thy weapons till they wholly shrink from thee” (Charnock, The Sinfulness and Cure of Thoughts)
Satan is going to do everything in his power to get us to break God’s laws and commandments. We have to resist him.
Let’s get this out right away. You know the sayings “The devil made me do it”? No, he didn’t.
It is our choice and ours alone to sin. Satan didn’t force us to do anything. He doesn’t have that much power.
We have to resist Satan in our inward and outward walk. It isn’t just what we do. It is what we think.
That means inside and outside are under attack.
We can’t be passive in our salvation. We have to fight to stay in God’s Will.
We can resist the devil only through God’s power. That means reading and hearing God’s Word and listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Well, really, it means seeking God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
What we have to watch is, because of our sinful nature, our hearts want to rebel against God. We don’t want His justification. Justification is the act through the merits of Christ that makes us free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws. Jesus justifies us when we put our lives in His hand.
But we need to resist Satan and accept God’s gift of salvation.
Since we are made in the image of God, a part of us yearns to be reunited with Him. The problem is our sinful nature. It is so strong in us that it counteract that yearning.
Hunter wrote, “There is no truth clearer to the thoughtful mind than this, that nothing can be beyond the notice or the power of God; and yet there is no truth less practically received by a large part of mankind.”
Resource
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
Making the Connections
Worldview people don’t want our salvation to hinge on hating evil. They want it to be on the condition that we are a good person.
That doesn’t work. We can be a good person without loving God. That isn’t what God is after.
God doesn’t base our salvation on something we do or don’t do. He bases it on our love for Him. “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (Prov. 8: 13 ESV).
Verse Commentary
Glossary
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
To gain salvation, we have to admit that we can’t save ourselves. We are only saved through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
God wants us to repent and change. Repenting and not changing is not a genuine commitment. We have to grow and produce fruit to show evidence of our salvation.
Father God. We praise Your holy name. Lord, we want to resist the devil. We can only do that through Your help. We can’t do it on our own. We want to love You and follow Your laws and commandments. May we be sober minded and buried in Your Word. Amen.
What do you think?
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