Every Christian feels it: that nagging dread when the zombie-sins you thought were dead come back to life. Paul felt it too: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Rom 7:15).
He went through a repeated cycle:
- I love God’s law (“I delight in the law of God, in my inner being!” – Rom 7:22)
- I can’t obey God’s law (“I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” – Rom 7:18)
- I cry out in desperation (“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” – Rom 7:24)
- I look to Jesus (“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” – Rom 7:25)
And that last outburst was what he counted on to fight temptation the next time sin came knocking. The secret to killing sin is thanksgiving.
When temptation comes, what do you normally do? You could try to psych yourself up and just say no. You could try to summon up all your strength to resist that temptation. And it might work. Once or twice. But it won’t work forever. Eventually you’ll give in.
The way to resist temptation is to say, “Who will deliver me? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” The secret is to be thankful to Jesus. To say, “Jesus, you were tempted like me in every way. You were tempted with pride, and greed, and lust, and selfishness, but you remained sinless. Thank you! Jesus, you died on the cross to kill my sin. You crucified my pride, and my greed, and my lust, and my selfishness. Thank you! And Jesus, you rose from the grave to give me new life. To live inside me through the Holy Spirit. You can give me the strength to resist pride, and greed, and lust, and selfishness. Thank you!
The secret to killing sin is thanksgiving.
That’s exactly what Paul says in Ephesians as well: “Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Eph 5:3-4).
You might have expected him to say, “Let there be holiness,” or “Let there be righteousness,” but Paul’s going a lot deeper than that. He’s saying the reason why we’re sexually immoral, impure, greedy, filthy, silly, and crude… is because we think we deserve certain things in life, and we don’t think God’s giving them to us.
We deserve sex, so we grab it on our own terms. We deserve comfortable lives, so we get greedy and grab stuff to make us happy. We’re not thankful for the things God has already given us. Like life itself. Something we don’t deserve at all (since the wages of sin is death). Like food, shelter, families, friends, and so much more. Like the ultimate gift: his own son.
If we were thankful for all those gifts, we wouldn’t feel the need to grab more. We would say, “God’s given me everything I need through Christ. Why would I turn my back on him for a few more trinkets, toys, or experiences? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”