Don’t Settle for Sin
A few weeks ago, I sat in my optometrist’s chair as he flicked slides back and forth. “One or two?” he asked, changing the strength of the lens. “Is this one better? Or worse?”
After I had answered all of his questions, he informed me that there was one more set to look at. He clicked between two slides and asked me, with a tone of finality, which one was better. The first option was crisp and clear and the second was fuzzy at best.
“The first.” I stated confidently, “The second one is terrible.”
My doctor looked at me with a smile as he said, “The second one is your natural vision. You, my dear, need glasses.”
I was stunned. How could my vision be that blurry without me noticing it? He explained that when we're accustomed to seeing the world in a certain way, we come to accept it as normal. We are unaware that there is a clearer option. But once our vision is corrected and we learn what it looks like to see clearly, we realize that what we had accepted as fine was actually far from ideal.
My vision may have been blurry, but it wasn’t hard to see the spiritual metaphor in his words. Weeks later, I’m still wondering what else in my life I have accepted as “fine,” which, in reality, is a blurry, distorted version of God’s standard.
The Danger of Crouching Sin
In Genesis 4:7, the Lord warns Cain, “Sin is crouching at your door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” This picture of sin crouching like a deadly predator is telling of the true nature of sin. It isn’t harmless. It stalks us, it hides and crouches, quietly waiting to destroy us. We must rule over sin or it will overtake us.
Just as I didn’t realize how bad my vision was, you and I may not realize that we have allowed sin to crouch freely in our lives. Yet the dangers of failing to rule over sin are all too clear. Headlines and stories of moral failure in our own lives and those of others reveal the consequences of unchecked sin. When we encounter these realities, our stomachs ache, and we can’t help but wonder how this shift could have occurred so suddenly.
But the truth is, these failures rarely happen overnight. They began with not keeping in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25): things like “small” compromises, gradual shifts in priorities, and overlooked sins. What seemed minor or insignificant at the time eventually paved the way for deeper entanglement.
As believers, we have been given power over sin through the work of Christ and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. And ultimately the victory over sin is ours—hallelujah! Yet, while we are here on this earth we must remember that sinis crouching at the door. This means that we will face sin and temptation, and we must actively fight against it or it will overtake us (Gen. 4:7).
Paul explains this struggle between our new heart and our sinful flesh in Galatians 5:16–17 when he writes,
I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want.
In Greek, the word “walk” is in the present-active tense.1 This means that walking by the Spirit is an action that is continually in progress; we must actively seek to walk by the Spirit so that we do not give in to the desires of our flesh. If we fail to do this the consequences can be devastating, and it may not be long before we find ourselves looking at sin’s carnage in our lives and asking: How did I get here?
Kill Your Sin
John Owen famously said, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.”2 It can be easy to shout a hearty “Amen!” when you see a pastor accused of adultery and think, “He should’ve addressed his sin before it ever got to this point.” Or when you hear that yet another fatal shooting has taken place and wonder, “How could someone even fathom killing another human being?” These grievous sins must indeed be addressed, but it’s also crucial for us to remember that we ought to be killing our pet sins like pride, gossip, or discontentment, just as much as we want others to be killing sins like adultery or murder.
Sin is sin, and when you allow any sin to remain in your life unprosecuted, it takes root and blinds you to its true destructiveness. In order to kill sin, you must reorient your heart by beholding the character of God and viewing your sin rightly. Scripture serves as the corrective lens that you need to recalibrate your heart to these truths that you know but easily lose sight of.
Remind your heart who God is. There is no ambiguity: He is “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3), set apart, pure, and righteous in every way. God’s holiness is not just one of His attributes; it is His very essence. When we encounter Him through Scripture, we see that He cannot tolerate sin because it directly opposes His nature (Hab. 1:13).
Once you see God as He truly is, you’ll recognize that anything less than holiness falls short of His standard. Scripture reveals sin for what it really is: rebellion against God. Sin is not merely a slip-up or a minor mistake—it is an “assault on the very character of God.”3 As 1 John 3:4 explains, “Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.”
Every sin undermines God’s authority and seeks to diminish His glory. When you see your sin in this light, you’ll understand that even “small” sins that you might be tempted to tolerate or overlook are far from harmless—they are destructive. And they not only separate us from the One who is perfectly good and just, they are a direct act of rebellion against Him.
Enter the Battle: Four Steps toward Killing Sin
If you have taken the time to see God and your sin rightly, then you are equipped to recognize the sin in your life. But the question of how to kill your sin remains. Here are four practical steps to get you started.
1. Take your thoughts captive.
In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul tells the Corinthian believers to, “Take every thought captive to obey Christ” (v. 5). You must do the same. Your sinful attitudes and actions begin as thoughts; this means that you must pay careful attention to your thought life. As soon as you recognize a thought or thought pattern that could potentially lead you into sin, stop and analyze it. Ask yourself if it is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, morally excellent, and praiseworthy according to the standard of Scripture. If it isn’t, do not allow your mind to dwell there. Instead, continue to the next step.
2. Pray to the Lord for help.
Scripture reminds us that the Lord is an ever-present help in times of need (Psalm 46:1). No matter where you are or what time it is, you can always call on the Lord for help in the battle against sin. Be honest with the Lord and tell Him that you are struggling. Ask Him to turn your thoughts to Him, to give you strength, and to help you walk in the Spirit so you will not gratify the desires of your flesh.
3. Fix your eyes on the Lord through His Word.
After you have finished praying, occupy your mind with new thoughts. Do not give yourself the chance to wander back to your old way of thinking. Instead, turn your attention to the Lord through His Word. One way to do this is through reading Scripture, but depending on the situation it may not always be possible for you to do this.
This is why it is important to memorize Scripture. If you can readily rehearse passages about the Lord, about sin, or about your new life in Christ, then you will have an ever-ready arsenal of sin-killing verses that will help you reorient your heart and change your focus. Some of my favorite passages for this are Colossians 3, Galatians 5:16–25, and Isaiah 53.
4. Repeat these steps as needed.
If you want to rule over the sin in your life, you must remain vigilant, daily seeking to put sin to death by the power of the Spirit. Ask the Lord to reveal to you where you have made allowances for sin in your own life and then take action. Even the “smallest” of compromises can lead to detrimental consequences when you are blinded to the reality of sin.
Don’t Look Away
Once you have looked into the corrective lens of God’s Word and seen your sin for what it truly is, don’t look away. In His grace, the Lord has provided you with everything—yes, everything—that you need to fight sin, but you must be willing to take up arms and join the fight. Will you go to battle for clear vision and refuse to accept the sin in your life as “normal”?
As Ashley shared, in order to fight sin, we must answer God’s call to holiness. In Holiness: The Heart That God Purifies, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth shares practical principles for having a life that is set apart—and a heart that is set on fire. Get your copy today from the Revive Our Hearts store.
1 “Galatians 5 : Christian Standard Bible (CSB),” Blue Letter Bible, accessed October 4, 2024, https://www.blueletterbible.org/csb/gal/5/16/t_conc_1096016.
2 John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, Google Books, accessed October 4, 2024, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Mortification_of_Sin/Y_qgTAM2z88C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Be%2Bkilling%2Bsin.
3 Bridges, Jerry, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate (Navpress Pub Group, 2007), 13.
