The War Within

“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement; he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.”
C. S. Lewis

“A man takes a drink; the drink takes a drink; the drink takes the man.”
Japanese Proverb

“Addiction is the hallmark of every infatuation-based love story.”
Walter K. Lanyn

“I can resist everything except temptation.”
Oscar Wilde

“You can’t fight against the inexorable.”
Penelope Fitzgerald

“The battle against sin doesn’t end until one of the opponents is dead.”
K. P. Yohannan

In our previous post, The Dangers of Christian Self-Help, we delved into the subtle snares of self-reliance and the undermining of Christ’s sufficiency in our spiritual journey. Building upon the insights gained, we must confront the stark truth about the relentless warfare we encounter as followers of Christ. We would all love for the Christian life to be a peaceful stroll through a sunny meadow, but the reality is an all-out war against enemy forces bent on our destruction. From the moment we decide to follow Jesus, we enlist in a battle that rages until our dying breath. Paul vividly describes this intense conflict in Ephesians 6, in which he strips away any illusion that the opposition is merely human, we wrestle against dark spiritual forces marshaled by Satan himself. Sin and temptation do not just happen and if we are caught unaware, the result is predictable, being weighed down by “the sin which clings so closely” (Hebrews 12:1, ESV). Unless we vigilantly fight, we will soon find ourselves oppressed and shackled by destructive habits and compulsions. This is the harsh reality of living in a fallen world ruled by “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2, ESV).

Waging War on Sin
So, how do we wage this war successfully? With God’s power working in us, we must ruthlessly put sin to death before it entangles us: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5, ESV). Notice the violent language; we are called to destroy sin’s grip through spiritual execution utterly. Half- measures will not cut it against such a formidable foe. We must firmly turn from evil desires and sever their controlling power.

When Cravings Rage
Of course, that is far easier said than done when the fire of craving rages within. Most of us have battled the agony of being consumed by rage, lust, addiction, or some other irresistible impulse. In those weakness-induced trances, God’s commands feel impossibly unrealistic. This painful dynamic is on full display in the book of Judges. Time after time, the Israelites plunged into depravity and oppression because “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25, ESV). Their sordid spiral typically unfolds like this: They forsake God and worship idols – He gives them over to plundering enemy forces – After years of cruel bondage, they finally cry out for deliverance – God raises a judge to rescue them from oppression – They repent and return to the Lord...until the cycle repeats itself.

Vivid Examples
Samson – Perhaps no one epitomizes this cycle more than Samson (Judges 13-16). Despite being a mighty judge invested with supernatural strength, he is spiritually frail and enslaved by lust. His fateful downfall reads like a Greek tragedy: His first brush with temptation comes in the form of a Philistine woman in Timnah. Samson impetuously demands to marry her, rebelling against God’s command for Israel to remain separate. This unlawful desire soon embroils him in a deadly feud with the Philistines. Years later, Samson recklessly pursues a prostitute in Gaza, indulging his craving for sexual sin. The Philistines think they have finally caught him, but he escapes by ripping off the city gates. Even this miraculous deliverance does not chasten his undisciplined ways. Finally, Samson falls for the seductive Delilah and is ensnared by her deceptive charms. After wearing him down, she extracts the secret of his supernatural power, the Nazirite vow signified by his uncut hair. While he slumbers, she hands him over to the gloating Philistines who sheer his hair. Waking up shorn of strength, Samson’s oppression is now total. His eyes are gouged out and he is imprisoned, humiliated, and forced to grind grain like a slave. Only in the end, when he is paraded out to entertain the heathen crowd, does Samson finally break and repent. With one last surge of heaven-sent power, the blinded judge demolishes the entire pagan temple, crushing his Philistine tormentors along with himself. After being dominated by sin, he achieved a final victory...but at what cost?
Moses – Even one of the meekest men on earth was not immune to sin’s deceitful snares. After 40 years of leading obstinate Israel, Moses made a fateful error that prevented him from entering the Promised Land. At Meribah, the people exasperated Moses by quarreling over water yet again. Instead of trusting and obeying God, Moses acted rashly. “Listen, you rebels,” he fumed, “shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10). Moses then struck the rock twice with his staff, rather than speaking to it as instructed. As minor an offense as this sounds, God saw a serious issue, prideful disobedience and failure to uphold His holiness before Israel. Moses’ moment of weakness revealed an unsanctified aspect of his character that, unchecked, could infect the entire nation like rot. Consequently, God disciplined His devoted friend by barring him from the prize he had spent four decades striving for. Neither traveling companions nor impressive deeds guaranteed exemption from sin’s crippling wages.
Achan – The aftermath of Jericho’s defeat captured how easily a single person’s unrestrained greed could hamstring God’s people. Before taking Jericho, Joshua warned Israel that all the city’s valuables were “devoted to the Lord for destruction” (Joshua 6:17-19, ESV). But one man, Achan, brazenly “took some of the devoted things (Joshua 7:1, ESV), coveting and stealing valuables of silver, gold, and a cloak from the spoils against God’s clear edict. Achan’s covert transgression soon had devastating ramifications. Israel faced humiliating defeat when they attacked the small town of Ai next. “Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you” (Joshua 7:12, ESV). Upon interrogation, Achan grimly confessed his theft, acknowledging he was culpable for their shocking defeat. Israel executed Achan for his idolatrous greed that desecrated Israel’s consecration to God. His willful disobedience and failure to put sin to death imperiled and demoralized the entire nation until sin was removed.
David – The man after God’s own heart provides a sobering example of how easily sin can entrap even those closest to the Lord. A series of fateful lapses plunged David into oppression and despair: In 2 Samuel 11 and 12, his downfall began when he remained in Jerusalem rather than leading his troops into battle. From there, David spiraled into lustful idleness, ogling Bathsheba bathing and then impregnating her. This idleness set off a chain of sins as he tried to cover his tracks through deception and murder. Though David repented after the prophet Nathan’s confrontation, the consequences haunted him. At one point, his son Absalom’s insurrection chased David into wilderness exile, undoubtedly tasting the suffering he inflicted on Uriah and others (2 Samuel 15-18). In the end, while David got past his transgression, it extracted an unthinkable toll of anguish and loss because he failed to mortify his wandering desires before they conceived into grievous sins.

The Only Way to True Victory
Each of these stories of tragic downfalls showcases the inevitable result when we entertain sin rather than put it to death. Every uncrucified desire, every unholy craving we coddle, becomes a foothold for oppression. The enemy is devilishly patient and will let sin slowly tighten the noose until we choke out our usefulness for God. So, we dare not be apathetic or complacent to the sinful bents that plague us. We must ruthlessly crucify every earthly desire before it conceives and produces death (James 1:15). This is the consistent witness of the New Testament: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live ” (Romans 8:13, ESV). “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24, ESV). “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you...” (Colossians 3:5, ESV). Do you see the pattern? There is only one path to freedom and fruitfulness – executing every sinful proclivity. We cannot expect to live in victory while casually entertaining unholy temptations.

Living in the Kill Zone
To gain this upper hand against sin requires brutally honest, Spirit-led examination. We have to cultivate an attitude the Puritan Thomas Watson called “the mortifying of sin,” which means extending no mercy as we drag our secret lusts and idols into the harsh kill zone of unrestrained warfare. Mortifying sin is the grueling but glorious work of starving temptations of the mental energy that fuels them, stomping out sinful thoughts the moment they germinate and eviscerating enslaving habits through vigilance and violence of heart. This glorious work is far more than a half-hearted wish for self-improvement. It is an all-out blitz to demolish the beachheads of sin before they can establish footholds in our lives; no truce, no ceasefires, no peaceful coexistence. We must slay every serpentine tendency without pity or reservation to reign victorious.

Not by Human Might
Waging this degree of total war against the lusts within sounds utterly overwhelming in our frail human power. Left to ourselves, we are ill-equipped to conquer the ingrained impulses and addictive habits that subjugate us. But we are not left to fight alone. When we belong to Jesus Christ, He supplies us with God’s infinite strength. As we rely on the Holy Spirit’s indwelling might, He empowers us to unleash all-out saturation bombing campaigns against the enemies within. Rather than succumbing to the self-destructive mantra of “I cannot help myself,” we need to adopt Paul’s posture: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, ESV). Our victory is already secured by Christ’s conquest, we need to avail ourselves of His superior firepower.

Staying Battle-Ready
Even as we progressively drive sin from its strongholds, the Enemy will try relentless new tactics. Withstanding his crafty ambushes requires being constantly armed and alert: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8, ESV). We must remain hyper-vigilant to identify his fresh angles of attack. Before long, we will notice insidious new thoughts trying to worm their way in. That is when we immediately bludgeon them into submission through Spirit-powered discipline and focus. It may feel difficult at first, but by God’s grace, with unflinching determination, lethal new thoughts will be repelled before sin can take ground. Eventually, those formerly irresistible temptations lose their grip as we transfer our cravings to Christ.

Stay on the Offensive
We must live in a moment-by-moment decision to utterly decimate sin rather than make peace with it; no coasting, no furloughs, no complacency permitted in this existential conflict. We must fight from a posture of violent aggression against our flesh because failing to take up arms is guaranteed to result in being slowly strangled by the ever-tightening bondages of self-indulgence and idolatry. What started as a manageable weakness evolves into full-blown oppression if we choose comfort and appeasement over courageous warfare. It is time to stop playing defense and go on the offensive, demolishing every stronghold of darkness and subjecting your entire being to the authority of Jesus. Put the armor of God and cut off any foothold the enemy could exploit to gain dominion again. The stakes are the highest imaginable, and your supreme Commander offers you eternal life, freedom, and fruitfulness if you obey His orders for no-holds-barred combat against the enemy. So choose this day whom you will serve because trying to have it both ways, paying lip service to Christ while reserving areas for sinful self-indulgence, only leads to abject spiritual defeat. Break out of sin’s oppressive occupation and execute anything that prevents you from experiencing total intimacy and obedience to your King! Let this be a rallying cry! Decide today to no longer resignedly cope with the lingering sins and idols that subjugate you. Raze them to the ground without reservation or mercy, wielding the inexhaustible power available in Christ.