freedom

Sometimes, the battle between the two warring persons inside of me -- the wretched sin-besotted old Jef, and the new immortal Spirit-made Jef -- wearies me so much that I weakly lay down my hands in surrender, completely vulnerable.

And during those times when I'm caught off-guard, the adversary comes in his full array of sugar-coated wiles -- those hateful (but oh-so-irresistible!) things. Then I feel as if my heart's being torn into two. "Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" Rom 7:24

I should remember that I, by myself, am sinful, and cannot resist temptation without the Spirit's supernatural guidance. Fighting temptation through one's own righteousness is surely a lost cause. "For apart from Me, you can do nothing." John 15:5 Without His work of regeneration, I am a child of wrath, just as the rest of mankind. Eph. 2:3 I like how Manong Ralph put it in a comment on his blog: "Apart from His saving work, we remain a putrefying corpse."

But God, in His sovereign grace, always provides a way out of those seemingly insurmountable predicaments. 1 Cor. 10:12-13 The secret to overcoming temptation is trusting in God's complete ability to prevent you from sinning, and believing that lying down at His feet in humbled wonder will give so much more joy than the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Here's an exhortation from one of Dr. Piper's sermons on fighting temptation, a sure faith builder for the fallen Christian. He quotes it from The Freedom of A Christian, an essay by Martin Luther.

Although I am an unworthy and condemned man, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation without any merit on my part, out of pure, free mercy, so that from now on I need nothing except faith which believes that this is true. Why should I not therefore freely, joyfully, with all my heart, and with an eager will do all things which I know are pleasing and acceptable to such a Father who has overwhelmed me with his inestimable riches?